When Lions and Serpents Meet
by pr3ttyxw3ird
Summary: It's their final year at Hogwarts and Draco and Hermione are Head Boy and Girl. Voldemort is gone, Draco's dad is in Azkaban, Hermione is changed, and Draco protects her from an abusive boyfriend? What happens when you mix lions with serpents? R&R!
1. The New Hermione

**(A/N) So this is my first fanfiction! I started this a few days ago. I'm pretty sure i'm ONLY going to do DRACO AND HERMIONE ships.  
PLEASE R&R! It would really boost my confidence about writing this story! **

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**CHAPTER 1: The New Hermione**

Hermione woke up at exactly 8:00 am with a smile on her face. Today was the day she would be returning to Hogwarts for her final year, and much to her pleasure, as Head Girl. As she got up to get ready to go to the train station, she reminisced about all the great times she's had with her two best friends and favorite body guards: Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. Though she was excited that a new school year was about to begin and she'll be seeing all her friends and her boyfriend, she couldn't help but feel saddened at the same time. She had to make sure this last year will be a memorable one.

Hermione has been dating a Ravenclaw named Skyler since the beginning of the summer. He was a tall, strong young man who was the captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team as the Seeker.

She walked over to the mirror and took a good look at herself. She had to admit, a lot has changed over the summer. Hermione was no longer the bushy haired little girl that everyone at Hogwarts has known her for. She was now Hermione, the 5'6'' curvy woman with long spirally brown hair who had eyes of cinnamon that sparkled in the sunlight. Hermione had also learned how to properly apply make-up, dress herself in the cutest and sexiest of outfits, and experiment with her now beautiful hair, and she owed at it all to her cousin who had spent the summer with her after not seeing each other for a grand total of 5 years!

Hermione unknowingly ran her hands through her hair and down her shoulders. She looked carefully at her hands and toes and remembered that her cousin had also paid for her to get a manicure and pedicure. Boy did she love her cousin!

She took a final look at herself in the mirror and put on the clothes she had picked out the night before to wear to the train station. She was wearing a red and silver striped strapless top, a short slightly faded jean skirt, with a loose silver ringed belt that hung from her hips. She put on the beautiful silver heart necklace her cousin had given her and the matching silver heart bracelet, anklet, and dangling earrings.

Hermione let her long, shiny, brown, spirally hair fall and applied her make up. She wore a blue eye shadow that faded outwards to black with black eye liner and mascara. Though her cousin had tried to convince her to wear lip stick, Hermione honestly wasn't fond of it. She always enjoyed lip gloss so much more.

She put on her cinnamon and honey lotion and body spray and used her wand to give her hair a sparkly glow. Lastly, she wore her clean, silver and red Nike shoes. Looking in her full length mirror, she had to say she was completely satisfied.

Thinking back to earlier in the summer after her cousin gave her the miraculous make-over, she remembered clearly walking down the halls of the mall and getting looks left to right from the male audience. This did wonders for Hermione's self confidence.

"'Mione!"

"Yes mum?!"

"Hurry up dear or you'll be late for your train! You know it takes forever for us to get there!" said her mother.

"I'll be right down!" yelled Hermione.

She smiled at herself in the mirror, grabbed her wand and luggage and she was off the train station to platform 9 ¾ to start her new school year.

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**(A/N)**

**So what do you think?**

**Please Review!**

**I already have more chapters written, but I want to know what you think first.**

**Thank You :D **


	2. Same Old Dragon

**(A/N) PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!!!  
When i see i need confidence to keep writing...i mean it!  
It's my first story so it would really mean a lot to me D  
This chapter is much better than the first one  
Draco Malfoy...mmmm**

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CHAPTER TWO: Same Old Dragon

_beep beep beep _beep beep beep **beep beep beep BEEP BEEP BEEP!**

**SMASH!**...and the annoying magical alarm clock was no more.

"Stupid bloody alarm clock…" mumbled Draco, "Who the hells idea was it to even put a damn alarm clock in here…"

It was the first day of going back to Hogwarts. Draco as well had a lot of changes to deal with over the summer. His father, Lucius was captured and thrown in Azkaban and the Dark Lord fled once again. No one's heard from him or seen anything suspicious to suggest he was still around. But of course all of this was great news to Draco. He hated the Dark Lord and he hated his father for worshiping him and torturing Draco and his mother.

Draco can remember the screams coming from downstairs as he was locked in his room by his father while he tortured his mother with various curses. Draco would try desperately to try to help her, to save her, but there was simply no spell he could think of to get himself out of the room.

Though his father was in Azkaban, and Draco was indeed thankful, he still felt the need to release anger and steam. His mother, who he's always been close with, suggested extreme exercises or perhaps even boxing.

And that was exactly was Draco did. He spent most of his time working out and doing every possible thing he could, as long as it kept him busy and his mind off his father. This resulted in a great body in which one would think only a god could have.

Draco got out of bed mumbling about annoying sounds and went to his huge closet to pick out his clothes. He settled for black slacks and a silky silver short sleeved shirt. He had gotten the shirt earlier in the summer and now the shirt was much tighter, showing off his muscular arms and chest. It looked good on him. Draco wasn't over buffed, he was buff enough to send a room full of witches into deep sighs and drools.

He took notice of this when he looked at himself in the mirror, but just shrugged it off. His platinum blond hair didn't have that greasy shiny look anymore, but it was soft and it grew out a little, having that "I don't care" look to it that made him look oh so sexy.

Draco of course was known for being the Slytherin Prince, the Slytherin Sex God, hell, the Hogwarts Sex God! And naturally, Draco was aware of this.

However, not many people know about Draco's educational talents. He had the reputation of being rough and tough, which is the reason why no one ever paid attention to the fact that he indeed always got top grades in all his classes. It was his father who had taught him that Malfoy's were not idiots, and no son of his was going to embarrass the family name by being anything less than perfect. Unfortunately, there was someone who always kept Lucius from being satisfied with Draco's grades, and that was Hermione Jane Granger. No matter how well Draco did on a test, Granger always did just a little bit better. The pattern never failed, and it sickened him.

It sickened him, not because he wanted to please his father, oh no, he hated his father. He always had. It sickened him because Draco wanted to please himself, and she always took that away. What made it worse was, she always seemed to flaunt her knowledge as if she were bragging that she was smarter than anyone else in their year, hell, the whole school! But contrary to this, he did not hate her. He never did. He may have admittedly disliked her a lot, but he did not hate her.

"Mudblood…" Draco whispered to himself. And of course the only reason why she popped into his head at all was because he **knew **that she was Head Girl. Who else would it be? Oh will she be shocked when she finds out that he is Head Boy.

"Draco honey!" Narcissa called, "come on we're going to be late!"

Without a word and with a swish of his cloak, Draco Malfoy exited his room and headed downstairs towards the front of the Manor to head to the train station.

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(A/N) Better than the first chapter huh? i thought so!  
PLEASE REVIEW!!!  
:D**


	3. Platform 9 34

**(A/N) Same as before, please read and review!  
This chapter is more detailed. Lots more stuff going on!**

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**CHAPTER 3: PLATFORM 9 ¾**

**Hermione's POV**

I arrived and kissed both mum and dad goodbye as I entered platform 9 ¾. Just the feeling of being around magical people brought a huge smile to my face. I stayed right in front of the entrance just to embrace the welcoming feeling. As much as I liked being at home with my parents, I would never tell them that I always felt the magical world was my real home.

What made my smile even bigger was the line of redheads I saw followed by one that was jet black.

"HERMIONE!" yelled Ginny, the youngest Weasley girl. She jumped up and down and I rushed towards her to give her a big hug. "I've missed you so much! And I can't believe you're dating Skyler!"

Ginny really changed over the summer as well. We have always thought of her as the young girl whom we all had a duty to take care of. But now looking at her, I can see that she's perfectly capable of taking care of herself, and if she has a temper anywhere near that of her older brother Ron, I'm pretty sure anyone who messes with her will be in for big trouble.

"I've missed you too! And yeah, I can't believe it either! It was so sudden!" I replied

"You wanna know what else was sudden?" asked Ginny with a sheepish grin on her face.

A little afraid to ask because Ginny had that little flicker in her eyes, I slowly asked why.

At that moment, Harry came up behind Ginny and wrapped his arms around her, giving her a kiss on her cheek making Ginny giggle like the little school girl she was while Ron looked at them and made a gagging sound. Catching on fast, my heart jumped.

"Oh my god Ginny! Harry! I'm so happy for you! That's so great!" They all smiled and I gave Harry a hug followed by Ron who whispered in my ear "'Mione, _please _don't leave me alone with these two! I'll go mad!"

I laughed and nodded. Ron was always the one who knew what to say to make me laugh even when he wasn't trying to.

"Uh, now that we've all said our hello's, Hermione, would u mind standing over there so we can all take a good look at you, 'cuz I swear I don't remember you looking like that after we got off the train last year!" said Harry as they all laughed.

"As you wish!" I took a few steps back and slowly spun around in a circle while all three of them watched in awe.

"You look nice 'Mione, too bad you'll never be able to wear that kind of stuff at Hogwarts" said Ron. Ginny then hit Ron in the stomach. "Ow! It's true! No way are Harry and I gonna let Hermione dress like that at school! Some sicko might jump on her while we're not there! Isn't that right Harry? "

Both Ginny and I looked up at Harry to get his view on the situation.

"Sorry guys, but I actually agree with Ron. 'Mione, what would happen if someone tried to take advantage of you and none of us were there to protect you?" reasoned Harry.

I found all of this VERY endearing. This was another one of the very protective gestures Harry and Ron made towards me. It warmed my heart to know that they could care so much for me, and this was why it was impossible for me to be mad at them right now.

"Come on you two! You should both know that I'm more than capable of defending myself. You don't have to worry about me" I said.

"But still," continued Harry, "what if the jerk is too strong and you can't fight him off?"

"Then I'll be there to punch his lights out" said a familiar voice. We all turned around to see Skyler there smiling his charming smile. He walked over to me and gave me a little but meaningful kiss.

"Oh bloody hell, now I'm gonna have to sit in a compartment full of sappy love birds. Merlin, avada me now!" said Ron making us all laugh once again as we climbed onto the train.

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**  
Draco's POV**

"Bye mother" I said.

"Bye honey" said mother.

"Take care of yourself!" I added.

"Don't worry sweetheart I will" replied mother.

"And owl me if ANYTHING comes up!" I said.

"I'll be sure to do so Draco" she said.

"And-"

"Draco! I promise you I will be perfectly fine! Go and enjoy your last year of school! And don't forget, I'm so proud of you!" she said to me laughing.

"Haha, yes mother," I concluded and walked away.

After walking through platform 9 ¾, I automatically stopped, fore this girl wearing red and silver (and a very short skirt I might add) was right in front of me blocking me from moving anywhere. Slightly irritated, I looked around and tried not to say anything to the girl. It was way too early in the morning for me to think of something rude to say to a complete stranger. I looked at her carefully up and down from the back.

_Bloody hell_ I thought to myself. This girl looked great. She had all the curves in all the right places, her hair was so shiny and she smelled so good…like…cinnamon? And…honey? I looked at the back of her head in hopes to see her face, but I was distracted by a loud girl's voice who called the name "Hermione." I looked over to see of course, all the Weasley's with Potter and the Weaslette jumping up and down like an idiot. I ignored this and turned back to focus on the girl in front of me, but she was gone! I quickly looked around to see where she might have gone, but the place had gotten so crowded that I couldn't even see the Weasel's anymore.

_She must be a witch since she's here…and she must go to Hogwarts…no worries, I'll find her again soon enough _I thought to myself.

"Hey mate!" said a familiar voice. I turned around to see my one true friend Blaise Zabini. "Whoa, you sure have been working out. Knowing you, you were probably blowing off steam huh?"

"Right on the dot mate, as always" I said. I swear, it was amazing how we knew each other so well. Blaise was really the only person I can talk to and tell anything to. So many other people in Slytherin were too caught up in the Dark Lord to really be true to one another. But Blaise was the same as me. He wanted nothing to do with that bastard.

"Hey, do you know of any new students coming to Hogwarts this year? You know, other than first years…" I asked.

"Umm…no I don't think so. Why? Did u hear about someone?" he asked.

"Mate, come over here" I said pulling him to a corner. "I just saw the sexiest girl I have ever seen in my life! Well, I didn't see her face because I was standing behind her, but still! I **DEFINITELY **would have remembered a body like that if it was in our school! So the only possible explanation is that she's new. Right?" I hoped.

"Hmm…there's really no way to tell…those bloody school robes always had those figures hiding from us!" Blaise said laughing.

"You should have seen her" I said

"Oh don't worry, I will" said Blaise

I looked at him confused on what he meant. After a while I caught on.

"Oh hell no! Sorry old bloke but she's mine when I find her" I said laughing.

"IF you find her. I may get to her first" Blaise countered. "Hmm…I feel another bet coming on" he said smirking.

"No!" I said quickly.

"Why not!"

"Remember what happened the last time we made a bet?! Now I have to deal with that annoying--"

"OH DRAKEY POO!!!" I heard. The smile and blood was drained from my face and Blaise looked at me with horror.

"Oh no…"

"It can't be…"

"But it is…"

"Pansy!" we both yelled with wide eyes and we ran onto the train in hopes of losing that annoying slut…or at least delay her for a while.

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**(A/N) Sooooooo what do you think?!  
TELL ME TELL ME TELL ME!!!  
It would really help me out...  
Feel free to offer suggestions!**


	4. Head Girl Meets Head Boy

**(A/N) So you know the drill! READ AND REVIEW! Haha **

**In case you're wondering, I put chapters 1-4 up all at the same time, so…yeah! Lol. **

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**CHAPTER 4: Head Girl Meets Head Boy**

Both Hermione and Draco stayed with their friends for a few minutes before they departed to the Head's part of the train. Harry and Ginny sat side by side on one side of the compartment with Ron right next to Harry and Hermione and Skyler sat at the other side.

"Hermione, why didn't you tell us that you made Head Girl? That's great news! Couldn't you have found the time to tell us over the summer?" asked Harry.

"I wanted it to be a surprise!" said Hermione. She looked down at the floor and was silent for a while. "This really means a lot to me…I still have trouble believing that it happened at all…I can't mess this up."

Hermione looked around at the compartment at the faces she had grown to love over the years. She realized how lucky she was to have such wonderful people in her life.

"And you won't mess this up, love" she heard Skyler say after giving her a gentle kiss on the lips making Hermione smile.

"I just wonder who the Head Boy is!" pondered Ginny.

"Come to think of it," said Hermione, "when I got the letter informing me I was Head Girl, Dumbledore didn't mention who the Head boy was, so I have no idea who it is either."

"I wish I was Head Boy" said Ron

Everyone looked at him with shocked expressions. "You do?" asked Ginny, "Since when were u interested in that type of stuff?"

"Since I found out that the Head's get to go off campus whenever they want! Do you have any idea how much I would leave school just to go to Honeydukes?" replied Ron making everyone laugh.

"He has a point there," said Skyler laughing, "I would just want to be Head Boy so I could spend more time with Hermione" he said looking deeply into her eyes.

Harry and Ron looked at each other, and then to Skyler fighting the urge to glare at him.

"Calm yourself mate," said Harry not so jokingly, "Hermione wouldn't rush into things like that no matter who the bloke is."

Hermione and Ginny gave him a look that said "calm down" and Ginny changed the subject so that there wasn't a huge feud before the school year even started.

The group spent another few minutes talking and laughing. Hermione then finally left in search for the Head's compartment and of course, the Head Boy.

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Draco and Blaise, who were in a different area of the train, were breathing hard in a dark corner. If someone were to walk by, they probably would have gotten the wrong impression from the two teenage boys. They began to walk in the isles of the train. Draco looked back over his shoulder. 

"Oh dear Merlin, is she gone?"

"I don't know, we should find an empty compartment just in case"

They quickly jumped into the nearest empty compartment and locked the door and started to laugh hysterically.

"Can you believe it?! I take the girl to a bloody ball 3 years ago because of that stupid bet I made with you, and now she thinks I'm suppose to be her husband! Yeah, thanks a lot mate…I hate you," Draco said, of course not really meaning the "I hate you" part.

"Haha, anytime old buddy old pal," said Blaise slapping Draco on the back. "So, Aunt Narcissa told my mom that you made Head Boy. Were you even planning on telling me?" Blaise added look suspiciously at Draco.

Draco looked at him for a while. Now that he thought about it, he being Head Boy completely left his mind. "Sorry, I wasn't keeping it a secret or anything, I guess I just sort of…forgot."

"Well, who's the Head Girl? Do you know?" asked Blaise curiously.

"Do you seriously have to ask? Granger of course! Dumbledore, that muggle loving bat just HAD to choose her" Draco said while rolling his eyes. "Oh Merlin…what time is it?!"

Blaise looked at his magical watch. "11:30 am. Why?"

"I'm supposed to be in the Head's compartment in 5 minutes! I'll talk to you later" and Draco raced out of the compartment.

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**Hermione's POV**

After leaving the others, I decided that I rather surprise myself as to who the head boy is. I went to the Head's compartment and sat next to the window. I carefully watched the trees rush by and the amazing blue sky. I couldn't help but feel so…peaceful. I looked at my watch. It was 11:30 am and the meeting didn't start until 11:35am. This meant that I had a few minutes to catch up on some light reading.

I pulled out my book from my bag and started to read. I crossed my legs and rested the book at my knee. _I hope this Head Boy is a nice enough character…Maybe he'll even be one of my friends and I just don't know it! Though I highly doubt that…I've already asked around and no Gryffindor is the Head Boy…and I don't know that many people from the other houses. If I did, they were mostly girls. _

I couldn't concentrate! Reading, or rather, _trying_ to read this book just wasn't helping at all. I'm so nervous! I can't mess this up!

_Creeeeeek._

I heard the compartment door open just a little bit and I turned my head to the side facing the window. Even though I was so anxious to see who the new Head Boy was, at the same time, I really didn't want to know either.

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**Draco's POV**

I stopped in front of the Head's compartment door and looked at the clock. It's 11:34 am which means I'm right on time. _I can't believe I'm going to have to spend the whole damn year with Granger. That mudblood has done nothing but make my life a living hell. Couldn't she just go to a stupid muggle school and stay out of my life. Damn, I may be rich but some things money just can't—_

And then my thoughts just stopped. After I creaked open the door just a little bit, I saw that girl I saw earlier on the platform. I immediately smelled her scent. As I was scanning her body, I noticed her smooth milky crossed legs. They were so…perfect. I shifted my eyes back up to her head. It saddened me to see that once again her face was not showing and her head was facing the window. I came to the conclusion that she really must be a new student because she didn't know that this was the Head's compartment.

I looked around the halls to see where Granger was. Surely she should be here by now, it's not like her to be late. Then the thought hit me.

I slowly looked back into the compartment, the blood drained from my face. I swallowed hard and took one more good, careful look at the girl.

_Ok Malfoy, let's go through this list slowly and carefully. What similarities does this girl have with Granger?:_

_hair- curly and brown like hers…but isn't Granger's more bushy?_

_height- pretty close…_

_what about her intelligence? I doubt that she can be anywhere near as smart as- Oh my God…is that a book?! What is it...ADVANCED TRANSFIGURATION?! OH SHIT IT IS GRANGER!_

"Granger?!" I said to myself, not realizing that it was also aloud.

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"Granger?!" Hermione heard. She automatically recognized the voice. She got so angry, even just hearing his voice was enough to make her blood boil. 

"Malfoy! What the hell are you doing in the-" she spun around to look at him and was at a loss for words. Hermione looked at him up and down. _Bloody hell _she thought, _when did he get so hot?_

Draco saw her reaction to him and gave her his infamous smirk. "Like what you see Granger? I don't blame you. I'm well aware at how ridiculously handsome I am" he said to her while putting his hands in his pants pocket.

"Shut up Malfoy!" she yelled, "what are you doing here? This compartment is reserved for the Head Boy and Head Girl!"

"In that case…" Draco walked over to the seat across from Hermione and sat down, folding his arms across his chest.

"What exactly do you think you're doing Malfoy?" Hermione eyed him suspiciously.

"Like you said Granger, this cabin is reserved for the Head Boy and Head Girl. I see that you're the Head Girl, now meet the Head Boy. Nice to meet you" Draco added sarcastically as he pinned on his Head Boy badge.

"You can't be serious…" said Hermione horror stricken.

"Oh but I am. And don't make it seem like you're the only one angry about this, because trust me Granger, I'm not pleased at all."

Hermione glared into his silvery blue eyes. They were so evil and cold, yet at the same time, she couldn't turn her head away from him. This of course was perfectly fine with Draco. Though he would never admit it, but he as well was transfixed in Hermione's eyes. He never realized how just putting on a little make-up could make one's eyes so noticeable. At that moment, Professor McGonagall walked into the compartment. She was expecting instant arguments, but to her surprise the two Hogwarts students just sat there staring at each other or better yet, glaring.

She let out a little cough and the students looked at her. "Now I know this may have been a shock to both of you considering your uh…history, but it's something you both have to work through. Being Head Boy and Head Girl is a great honor and responsibility which has benefits you cannot abuse. If there is a personal feud, you are to work it out amongst yourselves. Otherwise, feel free to contact either me or Professor Dumbledore with any Head business. As of this moment, you have no big Head duties except but to do your rounds on Wednesdays. The prefects will of course take care of the rest of the days and there will be different shifts as well. When a serious Head matter comes up, you will be notified by either Professor Dumbledore or myself. Are the rules clear Mr. Malfoy and Ms. Granger?"

"Yes Professor" Draco and Hermione said as a union.

"Are there any questions?" there was a short moment of silence. "Good. Both of you have a peaceful remaining of the train ride." McGonagall turned the knob and opened the door to exit the compartment when she stopped and had a great idea. She turned around and said "By the way, as Heads you are to stay in this compartment to discuss your duties and come to agreements. You are only to leave for bathroom breaks and to change for school. There will be no one guarding you of this, but these are direct orders from me, and you will be best off doing what you are told now that you are role models. Just think of this as…your first test as to whether or not the right boy and girl were picked for the job." With that, she gave a small grin and left the compartment leaving Draco and Hermione with the same thought in their minds: _She's definately gone mad..._

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Draco just continued to sit in his seat while watching Hermione pace back and forth in the [[small compartment. Draco was going over in his mind what exactly he thought about the new Hermione. _Sure she looks different…dare I say hot…but she's still the same mudblood she was 7 years ago. Same mudblood, same know it all, same Granger._

Meanwhile Hermione didn't know what to think. _Malfoy, the Slytherin Prince of Dirtbags is now Head Boy…I can't believe it! What on earth was Dumbledore thinking?! Now this means I'm gonna have to spend more time with the bloody ferret whether I like it or not! Well…maybe I can like it, he's gotten so hot over the---WAIT! Stop it Hermione! Stop! Bad girl! Very bad! He's scum and you have Skyler…but I don't think I like him as much as he likes me…you know what, just stop!_

She let out a growl of frustration. Draco heard this and smirked. "I know you think I'm irresistible but can you please control yourself Granger? We wouldn't want your precious boyfriend to get jealous now would we?"

"Oh sod off ferret boy!" Hermione shot back.

Draco didn't know why, but her tone lit something within him. He didn't know what it was, but he got serious.

"You know what Granger, let's make a deal. I've worked too damn bloody hard to get this position and I'm not about to ruin it because of you. The deal is, you stay out of my way and I stay out of yours. You don't annoy the crap out of me and I give you my word that I won't make your life a living hell…and I mean that in the most non-evil way possible. What do you say?"

Hermione looked at Draco with such surprise. Never would she have thought that he would be mature enough to make this kind of decision. They've only been together for a short time and she felt like she already is beginning to understand him a little better. Most importantly, she believed him when he said that he worked really hard to get where he is. Most people think that he always bought his way through everything. She thought for a while, thinking of what to add to the deal.

"Name calling…" she said.

"What?" asked Draco a bit confused.

"No more name calling. I don't want to hear any more remarks coming from you about me being a 'filthy mudblood know it all.' In return, the jokes of the infamous bouncing ferret will cease to escape from my lips." She said with a laugh at the end. "Deal?"

Draco looked at her, searching her face and eyes to make sure she had no intentions of finding loop wholes in their little deal. "Deal." Draco said holding out his hand for her to shake.

This was another gesture that didn't fail to surprise Hermione. Again Draco Malfoy was being somewhat decent to her. She looked at his hand not sure if it was a trick or not, but nevertheless took his hand and shook on their newly born deal. Definitely not the first time of the day, she found herself entranced by his eyes. Just by looking at his eyes, Hermione can tell that there was so much more to Draco Malfoy than Hogwarts knew.

Shaking her head and releasing herself from the trance, she spoke, "Well…ok then…umm…we'll be arriving at the castle soon. I'm going to change into my robes. Feel free to change in here; I'm going to be a while anyway."

Draco did not answer her, did not give her any gesture that would suggest an answer, he did not even look at her. He simply just stayed in his seat and stared out the window as if it held a secret, and he wanted to know. Hermione, feeling the tension, left to go change. When she came back and opened the compartment door, she saw Draco standing in the middle fixing his tie and didn't look up at her when she came in, and there was a reason for this. Draco knew that if he looked at her, he couldn't stop the thoughts that would find their way into his mind. He still didn't like her, but he was a guy and he was only human, and Hermione _did_ change a lot during the summer. Draco had to fight the urge to look at her up and down.

Just then, the train came to a screeching halt causing Hermione to lose her balance and fall towards Draco. With his seeker fast reflexes, he caught her with ease and looked down at her as she looked up at him. They stayed there for a while, ignoring the sound of their fellow students making their way through the isles. For the first time that day, Hermione saw that Draco's eyes were not cold like they always were, but soft and gentle.

She pulled herself away slowly, looking away from his eyes and backing up against the compartment door. She turned the knob and looked one more time at Draco and with a soft, innocent voice, she said "Bye" and exited the Head's compartment.

As the door shut, Draco looked at it for a few seconds and couldn't help but think that this was going to be one hell of a year.

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**(A/N) Well? Well? Well? How did I do?**  
**What do I have to do better?  
****Review!!!**


	5. The First Night At Hogwarts

**(A/N)Thank you so much to those of you who reviewed!  
****Keep reviewing!  
****It helps! Haha!  
****And remember, I'm open to any suggestions you may have.  
**

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**Chapter 5: The First Night At Hogwarts**

All the Hogwarts students gathered into the Great Hall. As always, it was a magical place. The first year students looked around in awe as Dumbledore sat in his big, gold chair at the center of the teachers' table.

Hermione searched around to find her friends. She spotted them sitting towards the middle of the Gryffindor table. She quickly took a seat next to Ron after kissing Skyler goodbye. As no surprise to anyone, Ron looked like he was about to puke as he watched his little sister snuggle up with Harry.

"Hi guys! Ron, stop staring" said Hermione.

Ron looked at her with a pleading expression. "'Mioneeeeee! Make it stop! Pleeeeeease!"

Hermione laughed. "It's ok Ron, you'll get use to it soon enough" she said with a smile. She then looked over to the Ravenclaw table where she saw Skyler talking amongst his friends. From the way it seemed, it looked like they were having a lot of fun with the topic they were discussing. Skyler felt her gaze on him and looked up to see her brown eyes. He quickly smiled and waved as she waved back and turned away. Little did Hermione know that after she turned away, Skyler gave a knowing smirk to the rest of his friends and they all laughed.

Just then, Professor McGonagall walked in with the sorting hat. To no surprise, all the upper class students could see how scared the first years were. McGonagall called the first name.

"Logan Wolf?"

A fairly cute little eleven year old confidently walked up to the sorting hat with his chest out. McGonagall placed the hat on his head and it began to speak aloud.

"Ahhh, another member of the family eh? Very brave I see, and incredibly smart. Though I see sneakiness and cleverness above all others. You're just like your father aren't you boy? In that case…SLYTHERIN!"

The Slytherin table erupted with applause as the rest of the houses politely clapped. Hermione, Ron, Harry, Ginny, and pretty much all of the Gryffindor table noticed something that was always there, but never actually noticed. As they looked, they realized that every single person at the Slytherin table had the same, knowing smirk.

Logan calmly walked over to the Slytherin table again with his chest out and like all the other Slytherins, a smirk.

* * *

The ceremony was over and the feast began. 

"Finally! I'm starving!" said Ron excitedly.

"You're always hungry Ron, I can't believe you don't gain any weight! I envy you" said Parvarti with wide eyes.

"…Shankkyoo" said Ron with a full mouth.

Hermione and the rest of the group laughed and of course, Ron continued to eat.

Meanwhile, at the other side of the Great Hall, Draco looked at the Gryffindor table with a glare on his face. _Stupid mudblood _he thought. _Stupid mudblood loving saps. Granger's just lucky she's hot now. Otherwise I'd make her life hell deal or no deal…_

"Draco?...Draco!...DRACO!" yelled Blaise

Draco quickly snapped out of his thoughts. "Wha?"

"Do you see that girl you were talking about earlier? The one you said was hot" asked Blaise.

Draco scrunched up his face and scowled. "Just forget it Blaise."

"Why?"

"Just forget it!"

"What, did she turn you down or something?" Blaise asked with concern mixed with laughter.

"No, she didn't turn me down. I didn't even ask her out." Draco replied.

Blaise looked at him with a confused face. "Why not?"

"Because I found out who she was" Draco said with the anger building up inside him.

"What so bad about that?"

"What's bad is that it was GRANGER! That pathetic excuse for a witch! That mudblood who shouldn't even be **in** Hogwarts but she is because Dumbledore is a mudblood loving crack head!" he shouted although only Blaise heard. Draco looked at Blaise. Blaise raised an eyebrow at him and one corner of his mouth twitched, and then it slowly turned into a grin and he started to laugh.

Draco was completely caught off guard. "What the hell is so funny?" he said slightly less angry.

Blaise couldn't get a hold of himself. He just kept laughing, and soon, the rest of the school noticed.

"Drakey Poo? What's wrong with Blaise?" Pansy said as she walked over to Draco, sat on his lap and threw her arms around his neck.

Draco felt completely disgusted, and pushed her off making her fall right on her bum with a loud "oof!"

Otherwise ignoring Pansy, Draco asked, "Well are you gonna tell me or not!"

Just then, Dumbledore and Hermione walked up to him. Dumbledore looked at Blaise with a twinkle in his eye and Hermione raised an eyebrow at him trying to fight the urge to start laughing along with him. Blaise, seeing Hermione, started to laugh even harder. Hermione looked confused, but Draco knew exactly why Blaise's laughter increased.

"Just forget it then, tell me later you tard" Draco whispered to Blaise and Blaise gave an uncontrollable nod. "Yes professor?" he said as he directed his attention to Dumbledore.

"Good evening Mr. Malfoy. I have just informed Ms. Granger that the Head Boy and Head Girl will be sharing living quarters. Now, of course you already knew this for it has been tradition since the school opened, but we have upgraded your tower over the summer vacation. I think you'd be quite pleased with the results. Would you care to follow Ms. Granger and myself?" said Dumbledore.

"Yes professor of course" and with that, they were off to see where they would be living the whole year.

* * *

Staircases were climbed and turns were made until the three of them saw a big painting of a giant serpent and lion facing each other, glaring into each other's eyes much like how every Slytherin and Gryffindor look at each other. 

"Calm now, Sullivan and Gallagar, your occupants have arrived," said Dumbledore.

The serpent named Sullivan looked at Hermione and hissed. Hermione slowly backed away with wide eyes. Draco smirked at Hermione and then at the serpent. _I think I'm gonna like this Sullivan character_ he thought. The serpent then looked at Draco, and with his clever silver eyes he lowered his body into a low and loyal bow.

"I am loyal to any pureblood pupil of my master Sssssalazar Ssssslytherin" Sullivan hissed.

_Oh yes, I'm __**definitely**__ going to like him _thought Draco. "Take a good look Granger; you could learn a thing or two from Sullivan here about showing respect to those who are due to it."

Just then, there was a loud roar and it was Draco's turn to back away, almost bumping into Dumbledore in the process. Draco looked up to see the heaving lion Gallagar with his glowing gold eyes glaring daggers at him.

"Grrrr….Watch your mouth boy grrrr…" Gallagar said to Draco. He then turned to Sullivan and growled, "Any pupil of **my** master Godric Grrrryffindor has more bravery and strength capable to take down any Slytherin…no matter how "pure" they may be…you slimy worm."

Gallagar then turned to Hermione, softened his eyes and then too lowered his body to a low and loyal bow. Hermione then turned to Draco giving him a smirk that would rival any Slytherin's.

"How interesting," said Dumbledore, "Years later, even Slytherin and Gryffindor's pets still hate each other."

"Excuse me professor, but what do you mean _still_?" asked Hermione. "Are you saying that these are the **actual** companions of Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor?" she added excitedly.

Draco as well looked up at Dumbledore fairly interested.

"Indeed Ms. Granger. Indeed." He paused for a moment to look at the portrait, the two still glaring at each other. "You and Mr. Malfoy are free to choose whatever password you please, but do remember not to tell anyone else. It is strict policy. Goodnight to the…well…four of you," and with that he left, still with the twinkle in his eyes.

Hermione looked at Draco. "Well?" she said.

"Well what?" he scoffed.

"What is our password going to be you git!" said an angered Hermione.

"Why should I have to think of it? Why can't you!" Draco said, his voice rising.

Hermione glared at him. "Fine, I'll just pick whatever password I want" she said with a grin.

"Well… the Gryffindor thinksss she'sss in charge now does she? Typical lion" said Sullivan.

"Well that puny snake down there next to her is too stubborn and lazy to even help." Gallagar then gave a mighty growl. "Just like all the Slytherins, always wanting someone else to do the work for them" Gallagar shot back.

This was certainly a sight, the two Slytherins staring daggers at the two Gryffindors and vice versa.

"Can we just all please come to an agreement?!" yelled Hermione.

"Fine. What do you think about the password: no mudbloods allowed!"

"Oh yeah, very mature Malfoy! I thought we had an agreement!"

Draco stopped. He had already forgot about their deal and **he** was the one who suggested it. He looked at her and said "Fine. I'm sorry."

Hermione looked at him as if he had just grown a second head. _Did Draco "Slytherin Prince" Malfoy just say sorry to me? _She thought to herself. Nevertheless, she shrugged it off.

"It's ok…" she said. "How about the password…When Lions and Serpents Meet? It refers to both of us so there shouldn't be any complaints from either of us," she then looked at Sullivan and Gallagar in the painting, "or them" she added politely.

Draco thought it through and concluded that it wasn't such a bad idea. Plus, they could always change it if they didn't want it anymore. "It's ok with me," he said.

"Us too" said the serpent and lion together.

The Head Boy and Head Girl looked up at them with eyebrows up. Draco was about to add that it didn't matter what they thought because it wasn't up to them, but Hermione sensed what he was about to say and gave him a look that said "leave it alone." They gave the password to the animals and entered the common room.

It was amazing! There was a kitchen, and big living space area with two comfortable looking arm chairs and a large couch. The entire tower had a maroon colored carpet, which was odd because carpet wasn't usually found in the castle. Then again, Dumbledore **did** say that they upgraded the place. The couch and arm chairs were off white. Hermione went to go sit down on one of the arm chairs to see how comfortable it would be. To both her and Draco's surprise, when she sat down, the off white arm chair turned Gryffindor red with gold lining. Caught off guard, she got up and noticed her initials in gold just above a lion facing sideways on his hind legs.

Curious, Draco sat in the same armchair even though there was another armchair across the living room. When he sat down, it instantly changed into a Slytherin green with silver lining with his initials over a serpent stretched upwards in full length. "Wicked" he said.

"I wonder what happens if we both sit on the sofa" pondered Hermione.

With that, they both walked to wards the sofa and sat on opposite ends. The sofa then changed color according where each person sat.

Draco looked at the coffee table in front of them to see that there was a note from Dumbledore. He read it aloud:

**Dear Mr. Malfoy and Ms. Granger,**

**I hope you found your new quarters suitable enough. The kitchen is fully stocked with food and will magically re-supply itself whenever something is taken out of it. You will each have your own bed chambers but will have to share a bathroom. As you have noticed, the living space area has been enchanted to suit both of you in hopes for you each to feel right at home. There is also a large bookcase between the separate entrance stairs cases leading to your individual rooms. I assure you that you will have everything you need to find in the selection for it magically finds the book from the library and is stored in the book case. **

**Your personal belongings have already been unpacked and placed neatly in your rooms. Enjoy!**

**Headmaster,**

**Albus Dumbledore**

"Wow, This means that I'll pretty much never have to go to the library!" Hermione said as she looked at the book case.

"Yeah…I'm going to bed. Goodnight Granger" said Draco, and he looked at the two staircases. "Hey Granger! How in the hell am I suppose to know which staircase is mine?"

Just when he reached the front of one of the stair cases, a transparent lion, almost ghost-looking, floated its way from under the ground and roared, scaring the shit out of Draco.

"Bloody hell!" he yelled.

Hearing the noise, Hermione walked over to where Draco was. The lion saw her and bowed much like how Gallagar did. It then, stepped to the side allowing her to enter the stair case.

"I believe this is mine Malfoy" she said with a smirk.

"Oh really Granger? I hadn't noticed" Draco spat back sarcastically.

Hermione gave a small chuckle and walked up the stairs to her room.

Draco headed towards the other stair case and the serpent floated from under the floor, bowed, and let him pass. _I love how I get treated like royalty here _though Draco. He then looked at the lion. The lion gave him a piercing glare with its golden eyes. _Bloody Gryffindors_ he thought and walked up to his room.

* * *

Hermione reached the top of the stair case to see a tall golden door with her initials over a lion engraved in red, much like how the armchair was. She opened the door and entered the room. She gasped. It was luxurious! The entire room was of the Gryffindor colors. Her bed sheets were made of silk and were gold while her blanket was red with again, her initials over a lion right in the middle of it. In fact, everything had her initials over a lion. It was like the royalty treatment. She even had a beautiful canopy over her bed made of the softest material she's ever felt. 

All her pictures were placed at the perfect places. She opened her wardrobe and saw that all her clothes were indeed inside. She had a wardrobe, two night stands on either side of her bed, a desk with a chair, a big shelf that held her pictures and other personal items and it was all made of a dark mahogany. She looked at her desk and saw that there was something on it that didn't belong to her. She walked over to find another note:

**Ms. Granger,**

**Here is a gift from us at Hogwarts. We know you'll enjoy it**

**Headmaster,**

**Albus Dumbledore**

She put down the note and saw every type of quill there was! There was also various colors of ink and a never ending supply of parchment, also of different colors. There were even items of all three that had different scents. This was such a great gift in Hermione's point of view. She absolutely loved it.

She walked to a door and opened it to find Draco inside. It turned out that their bathroom connected both their rooms. Hermione looked a little passed him to see what his room looked like. It looked exactly like hers, but with the Slytherin theme. She then turned back to look at what Draco was doing.

"Wow, we even have personal towels with our initials on it!" said Hermione as she noticed the red and green towels hanging on the side of both the bath tub and shower. Yes, that's right; they had a shower **and **a bath tub!

"Yup, did you get a gift from Dumbledore too?" asked Draco.

"Yeah, I did!" she said happily. She shifted to the side so that Draco could see all her stuff sitting on her desk. "And I love it! What did you get?"

Draco shifted to the side as well to reveal very professional looking Quidditch gear from gloves to pads, to undershirts. He even had cleaning materials for his broom! "I could say exactly the same for my gift" said Draco.

Hermione looked at him and smiled.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" asked Draco feeling a little uncomfortable.

"Haha, because we're actually having a conversation and not yelling at each other or making snide remarks" Hermione said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh…well I guess you're right" Draco said feeling slightly dumb.

Then there was an awkward silence.

"Well," said Hermione uncomfortably, "I'm gonna get my stuff and go shower and get ready for bed. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yup" he said simply and he walked back to his room and shut the door.

Hermione locked the door leading to Malfoy's room, got her stuff, and took a shower. After getting ready for bed, she took one last look around her room and went to bed.

After Hermione took a shower, Draco made sure that no one was in the bathroom before he entered and took a shower himself. He couldn't help but notice that the entire bathroom smelled like cinnamon and honey. He too went back into his room and drifted off to sleep, dreading the next day when classes begin.

* * *

**(A/N)Kind of a long chapter hehe.**

**So what do you think?**


	6. Surprises on the First Day at Hogwarts

**(A/N) Thanks to all those who DID review. :D I appreciate it. To all those who didn't…please do! **

* * *

**CHAPTER 6: Surprises on The First Day at Hogwarts**

Hermione woke up at 6:30 am even though breakfast didn't start for another hour and classes didn't begin until 8:00 am. Of course, this wasn't unusual for Hermione, she always woke up early. Hermione hopped into the shower. She was surprised to see that it was still wet. Shrugging it off, she turned on the warm water and filled the room with her honey and cinnamon aroma. She put on her pink silk robe and walked out of the bathroom with a pink towel on her head.

After getting dressed for the day, it was 7:00 am. She looked at herself in her full length mirror. She had to admit that she looked good. She filled out her uniform better and it looked pleasantly fitted. Her skirt was slightly shorter than the other girls' too.

Today, Hermione decided to go for a simple look concerning her make-up. She wore black eye liner and mascara with dusky eye shadow. This did wonders for her brown eyes.

Hermione packed the rest of books and supplies into her bag and walked out of her bedchambers. As soon as she walked out, she smelled the strong scent of coffee. Her intentions were to walk right out and go straight down to the Great Hall, but the coffee was calling her name.

It was then where she realized that Draco must have been up before her. The shower was already used before her, and only he could have made coffee for no one else had the password to their quarters. _I didn't know Malfoy could make coffee _Hermione thought. She reached the end of the stairs and walked to the kitchen.

"Good Morning Dra-" Hermione started, but then stopped. No one was there. She scanned the living room as well, but Draco was no where in their tower. "Oh well" she said to herself.

Hermione decided to look for the coffee anyway. When she got to the coffee pot, nothing was in it. She started to get a little frustrated. She really wanted some of that coffee. It smelled so good!

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a note under a mug sitting on the counter. She walked over and picked up the note.

**Granger,**

**I ended up waking up early this morning so I decided to make myself some coffee. There was a lot left over so I poured you a cup. I put a heating charm on it so it wouldn't get cold. Your Welcome.**

**D.M.**

_Wow_ thought Hermione _Thanks Malfoy._

She took the cup of coffee gratefully and headed down to the Great Hall.

* * *

Draco sat at the Slytherin table reading the paper and sipping his coffee. _Thank Merlin mum taught me how to make this _thought Draco to himself while looking at his coffee. 

He looked down at this plate, the food almost completely gone. He hadn't realized how hungry he was. He forgot how he hardly got to eat the night before because of Blaise's unexplainable laughter. Right on cue, Blaise walked in and sat next to Draco.

"G'morning" he said

"Morning" Draco replied. With the memory still fresh in his mind, Draco asked "So why the bloody hell were you laughing like lunatic last night?" very calmly. Similar to how one would ask "How's the weather?"

A smile approached Blaise's face.

"Don't you dare start laughing again!" Draco said a little panicked.

"Oh hold your knickers, I'm not going to!" laughed Blaise. "I was doing that last night because of how ironic it all was. You, Draco 'Slytherin Sex God' Malfoy, falling for Hermione 'Queen of all Mudbloods' Granger."

"What do you mean 'falling' for her? I did no such thing!"

"No, you didn't, but you would have if you didn't know it was her" countered Blaise.

Draco tried to say something to defend himself but failed miserably. "Just shut up" was all he could say. Right then, a certain Gryffindor walked into the Great Hall. Draco couldn't help but notice that she was holding the mug he had set out for her this morning. He felt the smirk on his face.

He saw her look at the Ravenclaw table. Following her gaze, his eyes laid on her boyfriend Skyler. "I forgot she had a boyfriend…" Draco said accidentally, not meaning to say it out loud. Unfortunately, Blaise heard this and commented a "I told you so" which resulted in Draco quickly hitting him in the side.

"Bloody hell!" cried Blaise in pain, "A simple 'shut the fuck up' would have silenced me you git" this time, bringing laughter to Draco.

Draco then brought his attention back to the Gryffindor and the Ravenclaw. There was something Draco didn't like about Skyler, and he didn't know what. It wasn't that Draco was jealous, he could even remember back in their earlier years at Hogwarts, Draco never liked him. There was always something shady that Draco saw in Skyler.

Deciding to ignore it, Draco followed Hermione with his eyes, watching her walk over to the Gryffindor table. She sat in between Ron and Harry. At the exact same time, both Ron and Harry gave her a kiss on the cheek making her giggle. Ginny waved to her shortly after with a happy "good morning!" Ginny didn't have a problem with this at all, Hermione was her best friend and she new better to know that there would never be anything going on between Hermione and any of the two boys.

Draco raised an eye brow. _I know they're the 'Golden Trio' and what not, but I can't believe they would be so bloody close as to comfortably give each other kisses on the cheek._ Draco couldn't help but feel slightly less happy than he did just moments before.

* * *

"That coffee smells good 'Mione, why don't you ever make coffee for us?" asked Harry. 

She looked down at her mug and inwardly grinned. "Well, I didn't make this coffee, Malfoy made some this morning and he left some on the counter for me before he left. He even wrote me a note, look." She said handing them the note to read.

They all gazed down at the note slightly confused. All at once, with perfect synchronization, Ron, Harry, and Ginny looked up at the Slytherin table directly at Malfoy. They surprised themselves with the fact that they each knew exactly where he was sitting as well.

Feeling someone looking at him, Draco lifted his head from his food to meet the gazes of three Gryffindors. He raised his eye brow yet again and so did the Gryffindors. Hermione, who was confused as to why they were all behaving like this, coughed and got back her friends' attention.

Seeing as how they all looked away, Draco went back to his food. _What the fuck was that?_ Was all he thought to himself.

"Now," Hermione started, "would any of you mind telling me why you were looking at Malfoy like he sprouted wings?"

"Well would you like to tell us why he _ever so nicely_ made you coffee this morning?" countered Harry.

"You guys read the note, he made too much and decided to leave some for me, it wasn't like he _purposely_ made me a cup, he just gave me what was left."

"'Mione! Don't tell us you actually believe that rubbish! He probably put some kind of poison in it and you'll be in the hospital wing by the end of the day!" said Ron.

"Ronald don't be silly, it's just coffee"

"I mean it 'Mione! Since when does MALFOY just start being nice to you? Even if he **did** make too much coffee, the Malfoy we know would rather just pour it down the drain than give you any" pointed out Ron.

"I have to admit 'Mione, this all does sound a little suspicious" added Ginny.

"Honestly! If you all must know, Malfoy and I had an agreement to be somewhat civil to one another. After all, we **are** Head Boy and Head Girl. Do you really think Malfoy would jeopardize his position, especially on the first day of class?" Hermione stated.

She looked at her friends individually. She could tell how stupid they felt. Harry, as always, was the first to call the truce.

"Ok Hermione, we'll cut him some slack now, since you guys have this semi agreement, but if we see him or hear of him doing anything to hurt you, we'll turn him back into a ferret and feed him to the giant squid in the lake."

Hermione smiled. "Thank you guys so much!" she said hugging all three of them.

Just then Dumbledore stood up and got everyone's attention. With a flick of his wand, each students' school schedule appeared in front of them.

"I would like to announce that we will be doing a little change in the school schedule this year. From now on, a mixture of all four houses will be in a class instead of just two. This would give you students a chance to mingle amongst your peers in not just your house, but all houses. Good luck and have a great first day of classes!" said Dumbledore with the twinkle in his eye.

"First class of the day, Potions…oh joy" said Ron.

* * *

Breakfast ended and it was time for class. The Great Hall emptied and the castle halls filled. Hermione, Ron, and Harry made it down into the dungeons just in time. Hermione saw Skyler and they found a table seating four. At the way back of the room, Draco saw Skyler sit down next to Hermione and take her hand in his. Draco gave a disgusted look and turned away to face Snape. 

"Welcome to your first potion's class of the year," Snape paused to scan the room, "So don't mess up. You'll be making a potion that will allow you to hear the thoughts of a specific person. What makes this potion unique is that….yes Ms. Granger?"

Hermione's hand flew up into the sky to answer a question that was not even meant to be answered. "What's unique about the potion, professor, is that although you'll be able to hear the person's thoughts, you'll be hearing the thoughts from half an hour before the potion was taken. For example, if one were to take the potion at 8:30, they would be hearing the thoughts of what another person had at 8:00."

Snape had a very smug look on his face. "Very good Ms. Granger...twenty points…" everyone looked at Snape with surprise. Never had he ever awarded Gryffindor anything more than five house points, "FROM Gryffindor."

"WHAT?!" every Gryffindor in the room shouted.

"That was a great answer! Why would u **subtract** points?!" said an angered Ron.

"Because, Mr. Weasley, Ms. Granger spoke out of turn, and I don't recall even asking a question, therefore, Ms. Granger has just interrupted my class period" countered Snape.

The Gryffindors, along with the rest of the houses (besides the Slytherins of course) looked at Snape with disbelief, but decided not to say anything.

"Now back to the lesson, the DNA of that person will be added into the potion and you will be able to hear their thoughts for up to five minutes. As you can see, each of you has a small tube placed in front of you. Please put a little bit of your hair into your tubes."

Obediently, everyone took a small piece of hair, placed it into their tubes and closed them. With a flick of his wand, Snape made the tubes disappear for a few seconds, and then they re-appeared. Only this time, they had someone else's tube.

"The ingredients and instructions are on the board. Get started," said Snape finally and he swished his cloak and returned to his desk.

* * *

The time limit they had to make the potion was up and it was time to drink it. They all added the hair in the tube they were given and drank the potion. 

Hermione recognized the voice in her head. She could tell without a doubt that it was Pansy Parkinson's hair she had put into her potion. Not only could she tell by the voice, but she could tell by the topic: Draco.

Hermione continued to listen to the thoughts fighting the urge to laugh. _Draco is so hot…he's so sexy…look at the way he reads his paper and drinks his coffee. He looks so cute. I love how serious his eyes get. I love how he's such a man…Why the hell is he staring at the mudblood? So what if she looks different, she still isn't all that pretty. What, do they have some type of agreement or something? I wish I was Head girl…I would be sneaking into his bedroom every night, climbing into his covers and-_ then the thoughts stopped, and the time was up.

Meanwhile, Draco just drank his potion and he wasn't enjoying one bit of it. He couldn't recognize the voice of the guy, but what he was hearing was disturbing, and he wanted it to stop so badly.

_Just a little while longer, and I know I'll be able to get her into my bed. Just a little while longer…It's just a matter of time now. The best thing about it is, she won't be able to see it coming, that naïve little bitch. She's gotten so hot over the summer…I can't wait…as soon as I get her more comfortable with me, I'll get her alone, and away from her two knuckle headed buffoons she calls "friends." I'll rape her if I have to, and then the next day, I'll tell everyone some stupid, yet believable story, and all of Hogwarts will know that I took the virginity of- _and then the five minutes were up.

When the voices stopped, Draco was paler than he usually was. "Bloody hell" he said out loud, breathing hard. Draco was angered, everything that guy said reminded him of what his father did to his mother. Draco remembered how crazy he would get, hearing his mother getting raped over and over again.

"Draco, what's wrong?"

Draco looked over at Blaise. Draco knew he had to tell him, he had to tell someone, he was so mad, knowing that a guy was soon going to hurt some poor girl. He didn't care who it was, Draco knew what it was like to sit back, not being able to do anything, this was one thing Draco wouldn't sit around and allow happen. He told Blaise everything he had heard. Afterwards, Blaise too was fuming. Not many people knew this about Slytherins, but all of them shared the intolerance of women abuse. Each Slytherin either watched their mother being hit, tortured, raped, or even killed.

Blaise's mother in particular was chained down in a basement and had curses thrown at her from his father. Blaise could hear his mother's screaming, and all he could do was sit in his room and cry. Yes, cry. The torture continued to happen until the day when his father was killed, and he was glad.

Both Draco and Blaise tried to scan the room to find the guy. Unfortunately, the classroom was practically empty.

"We'll find out soon enough" said Blaise

_Yeah…we will _thought Draco.

* * *

The day went on and soon, it was dinner time. Everyone gathered into the Great Hall. Hermione and Skyler waited in the hall outside the Great Hall. Skyler had his arms around Hermione's waist and was nibbling on her ear making Hermione giggle. 

Harry and Ron, seeing how she was busy, went into the Great Hall to wait for her.

Draco as well walked by looking like he was about to barf. Luckily, there was nothing in his stomach yet.

Skyler moved from her ear lobe to her cheek, to her jaw, and then to her lips. His kisses started out soft and sweet. Hermione wasn't use to kissing guys, so going slow was the best for her.

However, Skyler's kisses started to get more aggressive and hungry. Hermione started to feel uneasy but didn't say anything to him just yet. His arms then started to wander from her waist, lower to her butt. This was where Hermione had to draw the line.

"Skyler, stop" she said extremely nervous. "This is too much, we're moving too fast…I don't think I'm comfortable enough to move on to the next step."

Skyler looked into her eyes and smiled. "Don't worry Hermione, I understand. I'm not gonna force you to do something you don't want to do."

"Oh thank you Skyler" she said hugging him. "I knew you would understand. We should get going for dinner now, I'm starving!"

They held hands until they entered the Great Hall, and then went their separate ways. Hermione sat in between Ron and Harry and gave them both a kiss on the cheek hello.

"Hi Harry where's Ginny?"

"She said she wasn't feeling good, so I walked her back to the dormitories so she could rest" said Harry with concern in his voice.

"Yeah, I took her temperature, she was burning up. She had a fever of 103 degrees" said Ron

"Aw Ron! That was such a brotherly thing to do! That's so sweet!" Hermione said with a smile and a hug.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm the best" Ron said with his face turning red. Ron didn't like it when people found out how protective he was of his sister.

Draco, at the other side of the Great Hall was still trying to figure out who the voice could have been. He knew everyone in his house, and that voice didn't belong to any of them. Unfortunately, he didn't associate with many guys outside his house unless he was picking on them. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't match the voice to a face.

"Draco, why don't we just forget about it for now? Besides, the voice did say that it wouldn't make a move for a while," said Blaise.

"…Fine…I'll let it go for now, but as soon as I find out who it is, I won't hold back. I **will** kick his ass."

"By all means mate, go for it if you find out."

* * *

Hermione kissed all three of her best men goodnight and made her way up to the Head's tower. When she stopped in front of the portrait, she saw that Sullivan was sleeping on his side of the painting and Gallagar was pouncing at Sullivan. Gallagar was just about to jump up on Sullivan when Hermione coughed to get his attention. 

Gallagar looked up. "Ah, young Gryffindor, hello. You're just in time for the show grrrr"

"Now, now, Gallagar, it wouldn't be right to attack an enemy in his sleep. That's such a Slytherin thing to do is it not?" pointed out Hermione.

Gallagar smiled at her. "Very wise you are my lady. I am honored to have you in my house. You are right, I shall wait until my…opponent awakes. Surely you can forgive my foolish behavior?"

"Oh of course Gallagar, I know I can't really blame you. After all, that is what happens when Lions and Serpents Meet right?" she said with a smile.

"How clever of you my lady" said Gallagar as he swung the portrait hole open.

She walked in and saw Draco sitting on the now green couch staring into space with a very serious look on his face. Thinking about what Pansy said about Draco, Hermione started to burst into uncontrollable laughs. Draco heard her and looked up confused.

"Oh please Granger, don't be like Blaise who can't stop laughing once he starts. It drives me crazy. Spare me the trouble of telling you to shut up."

Hermione walked her way over to the couch and plopped down next to Draco, turning her part of the sofa red. This act surprised Draco. She was just sitting there staring at him.

"Uh…yes?" he said.

"Hi" said Hermione.

"Hi…"

"Look, I just wanted to say I'm sorry" she said.

"Sorry for what, you didn't do anything to me…did you?!" Draco said looking at his hands, feet, and the rest of his body making sure nothing was mutated.

"No, no!" said Hermione beginning to laugh. "I wanted to apologize for giving you a hard time on the train. Ever since this morning when I found the cup of coffee, I realized how dedicated you were to making this Head's stuff work. So…thanks, and I promise I won't make your life miserable" she said with a smile.

Draco looked at her. He didn't know what to do, he didn't know what to say. Finally, he said something.

"…It's no problem Granger…and like I said, I promised I won't make your life a living hell" he said standing up as his side of the sofa turned to red as Hermione was the only one sitting in it by now. "It's getting late, we should both get to bed and…I'll make you another cup of coffee in the morning" he said.

"That would be great, thanks, but maybe I'll make you a cup of coffee this time." Hermione said.

"What Granger, my coffee wasn't good enough for you?" said Draco jokingly.

"Haha very funny Malfoy. I owe you for making me one this morning. Don't worry about it" she said.

"Ok Granger, but it won't be as good as mine" countered Draco with his famous smirk, crossing his arms.

"Oh sod off!" Hermione said jokingly, smiling at him. "Well, I'm off to bed, gotta wake up early if I'm gonna make that coffee you know?" and with that, they both started walking to their stair cases.

"See you tomorrow Granger."

"You too"

They both reached their individual stair cases at the same time when Hermione said something again, "Hey Malfoy?"

Draco stopped and looked at her, "Yeah?"

Hermione walked over to him and did something none of them thought they would ever do: she hugged him. Draco was so shocked, at first he didn't know how to react. Finally, he wrapped his arms around her back briefly, returning the hug.

Once he did, Hermione let go and said goodnight as she walked up the stairs.

"Whoa" Draco said quietly to himself once he heard her door shut. "This day just couldn't have any more surprises."

With that, he walked up his stair case, and went to bed, wondering what new surprises would happen tomorrow.

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**(A/N) What do you think? I think this chapter could have went better…anyway, REVIEW!!!!**


	7. Malfoy's Don't Have Fun

**(A/N) I'm so happy! I've been getting some really positive reviews and I thank all of you! I'm really excited about continuing the story. TRUST ME when I say this story WILL be finished and it could be finished REAL SOON considering the fact that I'm so into it haha. I really like this chapter! Now let's begin!**

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****Chapter 7: Malfoy's Don't Have Fun**

Draco woke up with the weirdest feeling. He had just had a dream that Hermione hugged him before going to bed. After shaking off the thought, he went into the bathroom to shower, brush his hair and teeth, and get ready for the day. By the time he was completely dressed, the sun had barely rose over the lake. Draco looked at the time next to his bed; it read 6:45am. _Blimey_ he thought, _what the hell am I suppose to do before breakfast?_

Looking once more in the mirror, Draco made his way downstairs into the common room. _Might as well make some coffee_ he thought. When he made his way to the kitchen he found most unexpected sight: Hermione Granger wearing [[short black pajama shorts with a pink clingy tank top.

She hadn't seemed to notice him, so he took it upon himself to observe her. He looked at Hermione up and down just as surprised as when he first walked in. Draco, more than anyone else, knew that it was possible for people to change. He indeed had to agree that Hermione wasn't the bookworm with absolutely no life anymore and that she had actually taken the time to focus on something other than her studies; more specifically, herself. No one, not even Draco Malfoy, could deny that Hermione Granger was stunningly beautiful.

Interrupting his train of thought, Hermione turned around and noticed that he was there. As she did so, Draco noticed that she had a full coffee pot in her hand. The memories from his dream he had the previous night flooded back to him and he came to the realization that he wasn't dreaming.

"G'morning" said Hermione smiling. "I know I said I would make you coffee, but I wasn't expecting you to be up so early, especially fully dressed," she added looking at him in his school uniform.

Draco couldn't help but wonder why she wasn't embarrassed about being in front of him with what she was wearing. It wasn't that her attire was revealing or inappropriate, no not at all; it was just that he could clearly remember how self conscious she was about this sort of stuff. This was the most skin Draco had ever seen of her.

"Well, I guess you could say I forgot you were gonna be making coffee. But no matter, even if I did remember I still would have woken up at the same time" Draco replied.

Hermione looked slightly crestfallen. "Oh…you forgot…" She slightly lowered the hand that had the pot of coffee and looked down at the floor. She was chewing on her bottom lip and had her brow furrowed. Seeing this, Draco felt like slapping himself in the face. Here he was thinking about how people could change, and he couldn't even bring himself to appreciate what she had done for him so early in the morning.

Wanting to make things right as soon as possible, Draco walked around the counter and in front of Hermione. He took the coffee pot from her hand and lifted her chin. "I was just joking Granger, I remembered. I wanted to get up early to make us breakfast."

"Breakfast! Really? What are we having?" she said excitedly, clearly no longer sad.

"You'll see, go pour us a cup of coffee and I'll get started."

Hermione nodded with a simple "ok" and took the mugs into the common room. As soon as she left, Draco did something he rarely did: he panicked. He had no idea what to make. He didn't even know what the kitchen had in stock. Searching the cabinets, he decided on the simplest things he could find which were…waffles!

He took some waffles and toasted them with his wands. He then quickly got plates and found raspberry syrup. The waffles were then topped off with whipped cream and actual raspberries. _I can't believe I'm doing this _Draco thought while working_, I don't even do this for myself, why am I doing it now? I must really feel bloody guilty to be serving breakfast to a mud-…a mud-…a mudbl-…DAMN! I CAN'T EVEN SAY IT!_

Frustrated, Draco didn't notice that he was standing at the table where Hermione was sitting and she was staring at him as he was deep in thought. She raised her eyebrow at him as he continued to stay there motionless holding the two plates of waffles. She decided to speak, hoping to get his attention back, she was hungry.

"Um, Malfoy? Are you ok?" she asked.

Shaking his head, Draco finally looked at her, "Huh? Wha?"

"What did you make for breakfast?" Hermione asked curiously trying to lift her head to see what was on the plates.

Seeing what she was trying to do, Draco raised the plates higher away from her and smirked. "Aw, is Granger hungry? What are the magic words?" he said as if he was talking to a three year old.

"The magic words are: Give me my breakfast now Malfoy or I'll pour this coffee down your pants" she said laughing.

Smirking, Draco made a buzzard sound and followed saying "Sorry Granger, I believe the magic words were: Oh Slytherin Prince, please allow me the honor of eating your leftovers, your greatness" laughing as well.

Hermione looked at him with fake anger on her face. "Actually Malfoy, I believe the **real** magic words are: Accio Breakfast!" she said was she quickly whipped out her wand and point to one of the plates. The plate flew out of Draco's hand and into Hermione's. Pleased with herself, she put her wand away and began to devour the waffles as Draco stood there defeated.

"Touché Granger, touché" he said to her as she smirked up at him over her waffles. He sat down across from her [[which wasn't far because their table only seated two and began to eat his waffles as well.

After eating their breakfast, Hermione offered to wash and put away the dishes. When she was done, she walked back to see Draco snickering.

"And what may I ask is so funny Malfoy?"

"You Granger" he said simply.

"What about me!" Hermione demanded.

"In all honesty Granger, I'm trying to say this is the most polite way I can think of…I know you're a m-" Draco looked at her and she rose her eye brow waiting to hear what he was about to say. He started again, "I know you're a _muggle born_, and you've grown up doing things the _muggle way,_ but don't you think you would have gotten use to doing things magically by now? For example, washing the dishes?"

Hermione looked at the clean sink along with the clean dishes. She didn't even realize how awkward it looked that she was doing them by hand. She was so use to doing it the muggle way that it never occurred to her to use magic.

"…I never thought of that" she said. Draco had a hard time trying to figure out the emotion behind the tone of her voice.

Deciding to drop the subject, Draco spoke. "It's ok Granger, forget I said anything" he said getting up from the table.

Hermione looked at her watch. "It's 7:30, classes don't start for another hour and there should be at least a few people in the Great Hall. I'm going to get dressed" she said while passing her [[pet lion and walking up her stairs.

"Oh please do Granger, because I wouldn't go another second seeing you dressed like that" Draco said rolling his eyes and his voice dripping with sarcasm, not meaning any word of it.

Hermione stopped. _Did Draco Malfoy just somewhat compliment me? Even perhaps…flirt with me a little bit?_ She turned around to look at him. She decided not to make things too awkward and jokingly said "Why Malfoy, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were checking me out"

"Not at all Granger, not at all" he said and then pretended looked around the room while whistling.

Hermione laughed. "If you say so Malfoy" and continued to walk up the stairs. "Oh, and by the way, I knew you didn't wake up to make breakfast, I just played along to see how well you would do under the pressure" she added looking back at him.

"WHAT?!" he yelled.

Hermione let out a burst of giggles and ran up the remaining of the stairs. Draco quickly shot up after her, but the lion popped up and roared with all its might, stopping Draco. "I'm gonna get you Granger!" he yelled up laughing.

As a response, he heard more fits of giggles coming from her room. He got his bag and left the tower smiling, thinking of how good the start of his day was.

Draco took his time walking to the Great Hall. By the time he got there, it was almost completely filled. He took his seat at the Slytherin table and looked at all the food. He was full from the breakfast that he had eaten not long ago and decided to just drink coffee. A certain brown haired couple walked through the doors holding hands. Draco looked over at Hermione and Skyler. They kissed each other goodbye and Hermione went to Harry and Ron giving them each a good morning kiss on the cheek.

As soon as Hermione sat down, she as well looked at all the food. Draco saw Hermione put her hand on her stomach and smile, signaling that she was full. He didn't know why, but this act made him feel something he had never felt before and he couldn't identify the feeling.

At the other side of the Great Hall, Hermione put her hand on her stomach on smiled. After a while she looked up and saw Draco. For some reason he was smiling at his coffee. She thought nothing of it and looked at Skyler. They've been dating for a while now and he's been great to her. Much like before, he looked very interested in his conversation with his friends. Usually, Hermione wouldn't care, everyone does that. However, something was suspicious about Skyler.

"Why aren't you eating 'Mione?" asked Ginny from next to Harry.

Ron looked over at her empty plate. "Ish nawt gud too shtarve yurshelff 'Mionee" said Ron with a mouth full.

"Honestly Ronald, close your mouth" said Hermione looking slightly disgusted.

Ron swallowed his food with a big gulp and looked at her apologetically. "Sorry 'Mione, just really hungry you know?"

"Like always" Harry said under his breath.

"Hey!" Ron exclaimed, reaching behind Hermione and whacking Harry on the back of the head.

Everyone laughed and Hermione gave Ron a big hug from the side. It was times like these where she was so glad to have two boys, who were practically brothers, in her life. She didn't know how she would survive Hogwarts without them.

* * *

It was late afternoon and the Golden Trio was walking along the corridor. They've realized that they haven't spent too much time together since they arrived at Hogwarts. Hermione was either doing Head's business or with Skyler. As for the boys, Harry and Ron were either at the Quidditch Pitch practicing or Harry would be with Ginny while Ron was playing chess. 

The three were currently joking around and acting silly. They all made an agreement to try to get into the least amount of drama possible. After all, Voldemort was no where to be found. Hermione was in the middle with Ron on her right and Harry on her left. Both of her boys had their arm around her shoulders and she had each of her arms around one of their waists. Harry and Ron were purposely walking crookedly, trying to make Hermione stumble over herself. She was able to keep herself up since she was holding on to their waists.

They were having so much fun together. No matter how much the three would fight [[especially Ron and Hermione they would always love each other like family. In fact, before Skyler asked Hermione out, he actually went to Harry and Ron for permission. The two never really liked Skyler. They never knew if it was because they had a strange "feeling" about him, because he liked Hermione, or because they knew Hermione liked him. Luckily for Skyler, it was the mere fact of them knowing Hermione liked him that persuaded them to say yes in the first place. Never the less, with the agreement came threats as well. Everyone knew that if one of the Golden Trio were messed with [[especially their girl, the other two would always be there for protection.

**FLASHBACK**

"_What?!" said Ron and Harry as a union_

"_I said I want to ask Hermione to be my girlfriend" repeated Skyler with an emotionless face. _

"_No" said Ron and Harry together again._

"_Look, I know how protective you guys are of her, and I respect that, otherwise I would have just asked her out without coming to you." Skyler explained._

_Harry and Ron had serious faces on. The two are brothers in every way possible except by blood. They had their arms folded across their chest giving Skyler death glares. _

"_How serious are you about her?" asked Ron_

"_How do we know we can trust you?" asked Harry_

"_What are your intentions with her?" asked Ron_

"_How long have you liked her?" asked Harry_

"_What was your longest relationship?" asked Ron_

"_How many ex-girlfriends have you had?" asked Harry_

_They both made sure not to let him off easy. Skyler looked at them with raised eye brows. He then answered all the questions in order._

"_1. I'm very serious about Hermione, otherwise I wouldn't have asked your permission first._

_2. I can't tell you anything that will have me gain your trust, so I'm not even gonna try._

_3. I want to look after her and pleasure her needs_

_4. 3 long hard months_

_5. I've never been in a relationship_

_6. Therefore I have no ex-girlfriends_

_Harry and Ron looked at him in silence, long and hard. He could tell that they didn't believe anything he was saying. Then, something happened that Skyler definitely wasn't expecting. As quick as lightning, Ron launched at Skyler and gripped his collar, slamming him against the stone wall and Harry whipped out his wand and pointed it right at his Skyler's face._

"_Let's get some things straight-" said Ron_

"_We don't like you-" said Harry_

"_And probably never will" said Ron_

"_We don't trust you-" said Harry_

"_And we're never going to-" said Ron_

"_And if you hurt Hermione-" said Harry_

"_In any way at all-" said Ron_

"_Physically-" said Harry_

"_Mentally-" said Ron_

"_Emotionally-" said Harry_

"_We. Will. Kill. You." they both said together slowly so that he understood. _

"_Understand" said Ron which was more a command than a question._

"_Ok, ok" said Skyler with his eyes wide._

_Ron looked at him up and down then pushed him away. Harry put away his wand and started to head towards the door to leave the room. Ron stayed there just a little while longer to death glare at him and then left the room as well. _

_Skyler stayed there with a smirk on his face. Little did Harry and Ron know that everything he had told them was true…in a twisted, loop hole kind of way. Yes he was serious about her, about getting her into bed; he didn't say whether or not they should trust him; he did want to pleasure her needs, with sex; he had been thinking of getting her in bed for three months; he has never been in a relationship because he only stayed with girls for sex; therefore, no ex-girlfriends, only ex-sex toys. _

_He exited the room still with the smirk on his face and headed down a corridor to find Hermione, his newest project._

**END FLASHBLACK**

The trio was outside playing with the leaves that were happily lying on the ground. Fall was beautiful on Hogwarts. Right now, Ron was distracting Hermione, talking to her on the side while Harry gathered as much leaves as he could into a big gigantic pile.

Draco was walking across the outside bridge with Blaise talking about the upcoming Quidditch games and his new Quidditch gear. It was then when Draco heard a familiar voice.

"Ronald! Honestly, I don't know why you're talking to me about this all of a sudden. What's going on?"

It was Hermione. Draco stopped Blaise and directed him to look off the bridge. They saw Harry, Ron and Hermione on the grounds. Draco could overhear Hermione and Ron's conversation while he saw Harry…playing with leaves?

"What in the bloody hell are the doing Blaise?" asked Draco looking confused.

"I don't know…they look …odd" replied Blaise.

The two just stood there, interested on what the trio was doing, or what they were going to do. They listened.

"Nothing Hermione, I just wanted to know how strong you were" said Ron smiling widely.

"Ok Ron, fine. I don't know how strong I am and I don't know how I'm supposed to find out. Are we done?" asked Hermione.

"'Mione, what if I told you there was a way for you to test your strength? Would you do it?" asked Ron.

"Umm…I don't see why not I mean…." Hermione continued to talk and Ron looked over her shoulder and saw Harry standing next to a huge pile of leaves, giving him the signal.

Ron interrupted her speech and spoke. "Ok Hermione, you wanna test your strength? Here we go!" Then he wrapped his arms around her hips, picked her up, and threw her over his shoulder.

"AHH! HAHA RON WHAT DO YOU THINK DOING! HARRY! HARRY HELP!" Hermione yelled, laughing at the same time trying to release herself from his grip.

Then Ron ran over to Harry with Hermione over his shoulder and they both tossed her into the big, soft pile of autumn leaves. The leaves flew all over the place and Hermione had at this point burst into a fit of giggles. "Aw! I can't believe you guys! Haha."

"You haven't seen nothing yet 'Mione!" laughed Harry.

"GET HER!" yelled Ron.

Hermione tried to get away from them but they were too fast. They caught up with her and tickled her until she couldn't take it anymore. They knew all her tickle spots and Hermione regretted telling them.

Draco and Blaise watched every single moment of it.

"Aye mate?"

"Yeah Blaise…"

"Can you remember the last time you did something fun like that?..." he asked

Draco knew the answer for the both of them. He also knew that Blaise knew as well. Slytherin's couldn't just go out and have fun like everyone else in the castle. When they were younger, it was because they weren't allowed to. Now that they're older, they still can't…because they don't know how.

* * *

Draco was sitting on the sofa in the Head's tower. He decided to skip dinner, he had lost his apatite. He was thinking a lot about the afternoon when seeing the Gryffindor Trio having fun. He couldn't help but envy them. Draco always got everything he ever wanted except the things you weren't able to buy. He didn't know what it was like to have fun and it pissed him off. 

Hermione walked in through the portrait hole with a smile too big to measure. She had her arms full of different colored leaves and she was still laughing from earlier in the day. She saw Draco sitting on the couch and walked over to him, still beaming.

He still didn't seem to notice her. Hermione thought of an idea and she quietly walked behind the couch and held her leaves over Draco's head. Counting to three in her head, she dropped the leaves on him shouted "HI MALFOY!" and jumped over the back of the couch, landing next to him. Draco jumped up and almost punched Hermione in the face thinking he was being attacked.

"Oh, it's just you" he said a little relieved.

"Of course it's me! Who else would it be? No one else has our password…right?" Hermione looked at him not knowing for sure if he gave out the password or not.

"I know what you're thinking Granger, and no I didn't give anyone our password"

"Good" she said simply.

The two stayed there for a few more moments in silence when Draco decided to break the ice and ask a question he already knew the answer to. "So what did you do today Granger?"

Hermione smiled a clever smile. "This!" she said as she grabbed more leaves and threw them in the air, some landing in Draco's hair.

Draco shook all the leaves off of him and looked at Hermione who was giggling. "Care to explain a little bit more?"

"Well, Harry and Ron decided we should go out onto the school grounds and spend some time together since we haven't done that since we arrived at Hogwarts. They ended up throwing me into a pile of leaves and tickling me like there was no tomorrow. What did you do?"

Draco sat there in silence and didn't answer her right away. Suddenly, he got up from the couch and on his way to his stair case he said "Nothing that mattered" over his shoulder to Hermione.

She immediately got up and tried to follow him. "Malfoy what did I do? Did I say something?"

He didn't answer her and continued up his stairs to his room. Hermione was going to follow him until his serpent popped up and hissed at her, refusing to let her through. Hermione felt hurt, she had forgotten to talk to Draco about their little "pets." Dumbledore had told her during dinner about them and said they will only block you if their owner [[in the serpent's case, Draco truly did not want you near them.

Hermione walked back to the couch and gathered all her leaves, taking them upstairs. She put them on a pile next to her desk and took a little square box out of her robes. With her wand, she enlarged the square and put it on her desk. In the box was a beautifully colored autumn leaf. It was undamaged and it looked perfect. Hermione had searched the grounds to find the most beautiful leaves she could. She gave one to Harry, one to Ron, and the last was to be for Draco for being so nice to her after six years of torment. Hermione continued to stare at the box confused as to why Draco was acting the way he was.

Deciding to throw the leaf away, Hermione walked over to the bathroom to dispose of it. As she walked in, she immediately heard noises coming from Draco's room. She heard various objects slamming against the walls and Draco yelling into the air.

Curious, Hermione sat her box on top of the toilet and pressed her ear against the door that led to Draco's room. She could hear what he was saying, and a little too clearly.

_Granger and her stupid friends! _**SMASH!**_ It's not fair! _**SMASH!**_ Why does she have to be so bloody perfect? Head Girl, decent friends, love, AND she can have bloody fun whenever the hell she wants _**SMASH!**_ and not have to worry about people judging her _**SMASH!**_ And then she had the nerve to walk in with all those leaves _**SMASH!**_Does she not take into consideration that maybe some people DON'T KNOW what it's like to have fun and have all the things she has! _**SMASH!**_ IT'S NOT FAIR!_

Draco kept on yelling and smashing things as Hermione backed away from the door. Despite everything he said, she wasn't mad, if anything, she felt guilty and ashamed. Everything he said was true, she didn't take into consideration that maybe he DIDN'T know how to have fun and maybe he DIDN'T know what it was like to let lose and fool around with no rules and without caring someone would judge you or look at you a certain way. Hermione tried to picture Draco and all his friends playing in the leaves instead of her, Harry, and Ron. As hard as it was for her to say, she couldn't imagine it at all. For one thing, Draco only had Blaise. Crabbe and Goyle were just his cronies, his followers. For another, she had no memory of Draco doing anything that was improper. She's never even seen him slouch, and now that she thought of it, she's never seen _any_ Slytherin slouch or do anything improper. For the first time in her life, Hermione felt sorry for them.

_I can't believe I never saw it before_ she thought to herself._ How could they ever have had fun? Their parents were probably too busy dealing with Death Eater stuff to even pay attention to them. And no wonder why they were spoiled, they were probably given everything they ever wanted as long as it would shut them up. For the smartest witch of my age I sure am stupid…_

She took the box and rushed back into her room. She got the nicest looking quill, parchment, and ink she could find from what Dumbledore gave her and wrote a note to Draco. She then attached it to the box and went downstairs. She arrived at the front of his stair case and the serpent popped up yet again, hissing.

"I'm not gonna go up, I'm simply leaving this…present here for Malfoy, ok?"

She put the box down and went back up to her room. After getting ready for bed, she lied down and tried her hardest to go to sleep. When she finally drifted away, the last thought in her head was: _I hope he likes it._

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**(A/N) A little corny, I know haha. WHAT DO YOU THINK THE NOTE SAYS?!**

**REVIEW!!!**


	8. The New Head's Assignment

**(A/N) Sorry for making you wait longer than usual. Usually I would have the new chapter up within two or three days, but I think it's been a week or so. But that's ok right? Isn't that how long most fanfaction authors wait? Well…let me know! Seriously, I want to know whether or not it was too long of a wait. I'm not going to make any excuse or anything like that. Like I said, I'm dedicated to finishing this story! Now, LET'S BEGIN!**

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**Chapter 8: The New Head's Assignment**

Draco woke up the next morning, his whole body completely sore. After rubbing his eyes, he looked around his room to discover that he wasn't even on his bed. He was on the floor next to his desk curled up into a ball. Pillows, blankets, and sheets were ripped apart and found everywhere but on the bed where they belonged. His quills were snapped in half and his ink bottles were spilt on the maroon carpet. Even one of his mahogany chairs were reduced to twigs due to his outburst the night before.

He slowly got up remembering what happened. A flash of red caught his eye and he looked down at his hand revealing blood and numerous splinters. _Must have been from the chair_ he thought as he warped a cloth around his bleeding hand. Hoping his wand wasn't snapped in half too, he searched his room for it. He eventually found it lying under the bed, not broken and unharmed.

Getting up from his knees, with a swish of his wand, Draco fixed all the damages he made to his room. By the time everything was repaired, the room looked as neat and as clean as it did on the first night of his arrival. He traveled to the bathroom he shared with Hermione and looked at his reflection in the mirror. His eyes were slightly red and swollen. The last thing he remembered was touching his wet face and crying himself to sleep. This of course came to a surprise to Draco, for the last time he cried, he was a little boy getting beat by his father before he started going to Hogwarts.

His gaze then shifted to his hair which hid little twigs from the chair, feathers from the pillows, and thread from the blanket. Draco couldn't remember the last time he looked so awful, not counting the time he was turned into a ferret. **(A/N Haha I'm sorry, I just HAD to do it!)** He stripped off his clothes and turned on the shower. Twenty minutes later his hair was free of anything that wasn't suppose to be there and his eyes looked as if he had never shed a tear in his life. It was at that time he made a mental note to thank the Dementors at Azkaban for keeping his father locked up, fore he would have killed Draco if he found out he was crying.

Draco wrapped a towel around his waist and headed to the door leading to his room. He then stopped and turned around to look at the door opposite from his. He stared at Hermione's door, debating whether or not he should open it. Curiosity got the better of him and he slowly made his way to her door. He put his hand on the handle bar and turned it, cracking the door just enough for him to see through. To his surprise, she wasn't there. Her bed was made and her room looked just as clean as his did.

Deciding it was safe, he opened the door all the way and the steam from the bathroom filled Hermione's room. Once he did, he heard a soft purring noise. _What the hell? Does she still have that bloody pet she calls a cat? What's his name…Pukesharks? _His eyes searched the room and found nothing, but he still heard the purring noise. He looked directly down to see the small transparent lion at this feet staring back up at him as his tail bobbed from side to side.

Draco's eyes went wide and he stumbled backwards, afraid that the lion would let out a loud roar. _The little devil guards UPSTAIRS too? _He thought. Draco stood there waiting for a growl to come, but it didn't. In fact, instead of sitting at the center of the entrance like it usually did, it stood at the side, leaving Draco perfectly capable of walking into Hermione's room. _Strange…_thought Draco. He didn't want to risk anything, so he simply went back to his room to change.

Once he was dressed in his school robes, he quietly went downstairs, not wanting to let Hermione know he was there in case she didn't leave yet. He stood there and listened for any movement that may come from downstairs. After hearing nothing for several seconds, he walked all the way down his stairs. At this point, only one thing was on his mind: coffee. He went into the kitchen and found that there was already coffee made. Not only that, but there was more than one pot. One was labeled "Decaf" while the other was labeled "Regular."

Draco couldn't decide which one he wanted, so he took his favorite mug and filled it with decaf. He quickly downed it and then filled it again with regular.

"That should get me through the day" he said to himself.

He walked out of the kitchen and went to get his book bag which he always put at the foot of the stairs. As he picked up his bag, he noticed a medium sized black box with a piece of parchment attached to it. The parchment seemed to be charmed or enchanted, because it was sparkly, glittery, and was of the Gryffindor colors. The parchment itself was red as the writing was gold.

Draco picked up the note and read the gold words. It looked like the person wrote one thing, scribbled it out, and then wrote another. Barely making it out, Draco read the words "From Hermione," and was scribbled out. Under the scribble, it said "From Granger." Draco felt a little guilty, but opened the note.

Expecting to see the same red and gold, he opened it up to see that the inside was of Slytherin colors and were sparkling as well. The parchment was green on the inside as the writing was silver. He read the note from the way top.

**Dra **(scribbled out)** Malfoy,**

**You left before I could give you something…you'll find it in the black box this letter was attached to…**

**You don't have to accept it, but I thought about you yesterday and got you something. I guess what I'm trying to say is…thank you and I'm sorry. I'm not gonna tell you what for, but just know that I am. **

**I just want you to know that you have a **_**friend**_** you could talk with whenever you want to just loosen up and have some **_**fun.**_

**-Granger**

Draco looked up from the letter and to the box. He picked it up and examined it closely. Opening it, he found a perfectly undamaged autumn leaf resting on a green silk cushion. He carefully picked it up, not wanting to break it, and saw in the middle of the cushion in silver lettering "Draco Malfoy. Head Boy. Friend." He put the leaf back down and closed the box, putting it on the table next to him. He read the letter over again carefully and stopped at the last sentence.

"Friends and Fun…" he mumbled to himself. He looked at the two words and noticed that Hermione had put extra emphasis on them. "She heard me…" he said aloud. _HOW does she have the ability to make me feel so ridiculously guilty?! If that isn't mind control, I don't know what is,_ he thought to himself. He looked at the box once again and heard the words echo in his mind: _You don't have to accept it…_ He took the box and walked back up to his room. When he entered, he put it on his shelf where he kept his most important possessions: His Quidditch materials and a picture of his mom. Draco knew that there was no way he could talk to Hermione now. She had obviously heard everything he said the night before and still she was nice enough to give him a token of their so called _friendship_. He mentally decided that he would try his best to stay away from Hermione. It seems that he always did something wrong around her and she constantly made him feel guilty about it, without meaning to. As much as he didn't want to do it, he had to. Draco picked up his bag and went down to the Great Hall.

* * *

Hermione decided to leave the Head's tower early in hopes to avoid Draco while he was still sensitive. She arrived in front of the Fat Lady and walked up to the boys' dormitory. She knocked on the door and Nevil opened it looking very sleepy. Hermione felt bad for disturbing him so early in the morning. 

"Oh, hi Nevil, sorry to be waking you up so early but I really want to talk to Harry and Ron," she said in a sweet voice.

"Sure Hermiiiiiiiiione, they're right over there," he yawned and pointed to the two beds at the back of the room.

"Thank you Nevil I'm sure I can find them, go back to sleep" she said smiling.

Hermione walked over and looked at the two beds. She didn't know which boy was which, so she sat down on one of the beds. Looking closely, she was almost certain that it was Ron. It was still very dark and hard to make out anyone, but his red hair was visible. Ron lay on his back with his hands behind his head sleeping silently. Hermione put her hand in the middle of his chest and shook him lightly.

"Ron" Hermione whispered, "Ron…Ronald! Oh for heaven's sake" she held his face in her hands trying to open his eyes with her fingers. Still, he did not wake.

Giving up, she went to Harry's bed and tried to wake him up instead. She lightly shook his arm and he woke up instantly.

"Her-Hermione? What's wrong? What are you doing here?" he asked groggily.

"Never mind about that for now Harry, what's wrong with Ron? I tried to wake him up but he didn't even budge! Something must be wrong with him" Harry looked at her and chuckled. Hermione raised an eyebrow at him and looked at him as if he was crazy. "Harry! This is serious!"

"Actually, Hermione, no it's not. Watch and learn. Finally **I** can teach **you** something" he said as he slowly got out from out of bed and turned to face Ron. "Ron wake up, an all you can eat buffet just opened in the Great Hall!"

As quick as lightning, Ron threw off his covers, pulled off his shirt and pajama bottoms, and was already trying to pull up his school pants. He had one of his legs in when he looked up and realized Harry and Hermione were laughing hysterically at him.

"Harry you arse!" Ron exclaimed. At the moment a pillow hit Ron at the side of the head. He turned to see Seamus.

"Ron you loud mouth shut the hell up! Oh, good morning Hermione how are you?" Seamus asked.

"I'm fine thank you" she said smiling back at him.

The boys in the dormitory were use to seeing Hermione. They didn't mind, they considered her "one of the guys."

"Seamus shut up and go back to sleep before I tell your girlfriend you sleep with a teddy bear" retorted Ron.

At this threat, Seamus turned almost as red as Ron's hair and pulled the covers over his head, holding his teddy bear.

"Alright Ron, now that you've won your battle, pull your pants up young man" said Hermione giggling. Hermione was use to seeing the boys in their boxers, and neither Harry nor Ron had a problem being around her when they were.

"Sorry 'Mione" Ron replied as he pulled his pants up and went for his shirt.

"What did you want to tell us 'Mione?" questioned Harry.

Hermione debated in her head whether or not to tell them exactly what was wrong. How could she possibly tell her two best friends that she felt sorry for the guy who was their enemy for the past seven years? She looked at Harry and then at Ron who was looking back at her while buttoning his shirt. Then, she lied.

"Oh it's nothing serious…I've just been really stressed out what with Head duties and trying to stay on task with all the classes…What would you two suggest if I, oh I don't know…just suddenly didn't know how to have fun anymore?" She looked at the two eagerly awaiting their answers.

"…Hermione is this a serious question?" asked Harry.

Hermione twitched at hearing her name. The only time Harry and Ron ever called her "Hermione" was when they were mad or worried.

"Yes it's a serious question! Why wouldn't it be?"

"We were just checking 'Mione, you wouldn't ask us a question like this, it's not logical" said Ron

Harry and Hermione looked at Ron surprised. Never has Ron said anything so adult before. "What?" he continued. "I can be logical!...I just choose not to most of the time…"

"You two are avoiding the question!" Hermione spoke frustrated. "Now would you PLEASE answer me…NOW!"

Harry and Ron jumped. "Well, uh…I would attempt to take you out someplace fun and show you how good things could be outside the textbooks" replied Harry quickly.

"And what about you Ronald?"

"I would…I don't know…talk to you first and find out your idea of fun…" Ron looked at Hermione hoping she wouldn't yell at him. She took at deep breath and looked at the both of them.

"Thanks for your help guys, I really appreciate it" she said half heartedly. She stood up and gave them both a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Now you guys get ready and I'll be down in the common room waiting."

"Your welcome 'Mione, just be glad that Ron's already done dressing. Now you won't have to wait as long" joked Harry. A pillow then flew to the side of Harry's head, this time by Ron.

"Arse…" Ron said as Hermione walked out of the boys' dormitory chuckling.

* * *

It's been a month since the incident and Draco was successful in avoiding Hermione. He would simply focus on his friends, studies, and Head duties during the day and go straight to his room at night. He tried to spend the least amount of time in his common room as possible and never looked at the Gryffindor table during eating hours. The only time he ever looked at Hermione was on Wednesdays when they had to do their rounds, but even then he would go his separate way. 

From time to time Hermione would try to talk to him and have no success. Because of this, Hermione was overwhelmed with an extreme amount of guilt. Had she had known how much she was hurting Draco, she would have been more sensitive.

She was now sitting in her common room reading a book from her book shelf when there was a knock on the portrait door. Hermione got up and walked her way to the door and opened it to reveal Professor Dumbledore.

"Good evening Ms. Granger, may I come in?" he asked very politely.

"Oh of course professor come right in, I was just doing some light reading" she said, moving to the side to let him in.

Dumbledore walked over to sit on the sofa. As he did, the sofa turned a gray with the Hogwarts crest in the middle. Hermione looked very impressed and walked over to one of the sofa chairs and sat down. Dumbledore picked up the book that Hermione was reading to discover that it was at least eight inches thick.

"You surely are a dedicated student Ms. Granger" Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Why thank you professor. What brings you here tonight? Was there something you wished to discuss?"

"Actually yes, but before I begin, we'll be needing Mr. Malfoy here as well"

"Oh…I would offer to go get him, but as you can see…" Hermione walked over to Draco's stair case and the serpent hissed at her, refusing to let her through, "he doesn't want me anywhere near him at this time."

Hermione looked down at the serpent trying not to look sad in front of the Headmaster.

"It's quite alright Ms. Granger, I'll go and get him" he said.

Dumbledore walked over to the serpent and it stared up at him questionably. With a swish of his wand, the serpent disappeared. He walked up the stair case and stopped in front of Draco's door. He raised his hand and knocked three times and Draco opened the door. He was startled, but quickly covered it up.

"Headmaster, hello, is there something I can help you with?" he asked. Draco leaned his head to the side to look past Dumbledore and looked at Hermione who had her head down shifting from one leg to the other looking very uncomfortable.

"Actually Mr. Malfoy, I was wondering if we could all go in the common room to discuss some Head's business." Dumbledore said.

"Yes of course."

They all walked down to the common room and sat down. Draco and Hermione waited for Dumbledore to speak.

"Well, as you both know, there has been no major Head assignment for you, but seeing as the holidays are coming up; I thought it fun to throw a Winter Ball for the school. I'm putting you two in charge of the ordeal. You'll have the help of the prefects and must arrange meetings with them. I'm expecting decorations, food arrangements, activities, musical entertainment, and a theme. Now I realize that this is a lot to do on the count of it is the end of October, but I know the two of you can pull it off. If the dance is indeed a success, you'll both be receiving extra credit which be added to any class to class you please. The Ball will be held December Fifteenth and will end at midnight. Do you have any questions?"

For the first time in a long time, Draco and Hermione looked at each other in the eyes. They looked back at Dumbledore and shook their heads. With a smile, Dumbledore stood up and made his way towards the portrait door. As he opened the door and began to walk out, he stopped and turned around.

"By the way, since you two the planners, I think it would be appropriate for you two to attend the Ball together"

"WHAT!" they both yelled.

"With all do respect, Headmaster, but I have a boyfriend. I don't think he'll take lightly to me going to the biggest ball of the year with someone other than him" spoke up Hermione.

"And I just don't want to go with her" said Draco rather rudely.

Hermione turned her head and glared at him.

"I'm sorry Ms. Granger and Mr. Malfoy, but my word is final. Ms. Granger, if your boyfriend is truly trustworthy and understanding, I'm sure he'll have no problem with you having a few dances with Mr. Malfoy. I suggest the both of you work out your differences. It is your job to be a positive role model to the other students in Hogwarts, and you won't be fulfilling that job if you continue to act as if divided. You may be in separate houses, but does not mean you are of different species. I know very well that you both a capable of being civil to one another. Now, goodnight to the both of you" and with that he closed the portrait hole and smiled as he walked back to his chambers.

There was a moment of silence and shock.

"Brilliant, just bloody brilliant" Draco said. He turned away from Hermione and walked back up to his room.

Hermione just sat there rolling her eyes. She picked up her book and continued to read. _I give up with him_ she thought _If he's not going to __**try **__to make this work, I'm not going to try either. I've already done what I could but he's just too stubborn. I hope he's having a bloody fabulous time doing whatever the hell he's doing up there in his "sanctuary."_

* * *

It's been three weeks since the project was started and they only had two more weeks to get everything settled. Even though Draco and Hermione were spending more time together than usual, they rarely talked to each other. During the meetings, they would only talk to the prefects and assign everyone jobs. 

It was agreed that the theme would be "Dreams Come True" and the girls will be wearing only white dresses. The guys on the other hand will wear black dress robes.

Dean Thomas has offered to be DJ for the event and as for activities, there will be a Secret Santa game that will be played. The students will pick a name in a box in the Great Hall. During the ball, the gifts will be exchanged.

Skyler wasn't taking the news lightly about her going to the Ball with Draco. Though he would never tell anyone other than his Ravenclaw friends, he was planning on making his move on Hermione that night. He wouldn't be able to do it if she was always busy with Draco and making sure everything went smoothly during the Ball hours.

Hermione was just trying to make it through the days. She had to keep up with her school work and arrange the Ball at the same time. The fact that she would have to go with Draco was the least of her worries. Harry and Ron were very concerned for her. She would barely eat and talk to them. At the times where she **did** eat, she wouldn't even scold Ron for talking with his mouth open.

Draco on the other hand wouldn't stop thinking about the fact he would be having to go with Hermione to the Ball.

_What the hell is that bloody old fool thinking! Making me go to the dance with that mud- mud-…MUGGLE BORN! I've been trying my best to avoid the girl and now I'm going to have to spend practically all my time with her! Fabulous…_

Draco sat there over polishing his Nimbus 2001. Draco wasn't as mad at her as he made it seem. He just really thought it was best not to get any closer to her. He found that every time he did, he felt himself getting more and more jealous of her. Now he couldn't even call her a mudblood.

He was still avoiding her as much as he could, but sometimes he would see her walking around with her so called boyfriend Skyler and almost each time he wanted to puke. There was something he didn't like about him and he still didn't know what. Whenever he would think about it, the only friends Skyler ever had were in Ravenclaw. True, it shouldn't be too odd considering the fact that Draco pretty much only had friends in Slytherin, but he at least had a girlfriend from time to time, and they didn't glare at him whenever they saw him.

Draco knew that he had no business caring about what went on in Hermione's life, but he was just too angry. He was angry because he was avoiding her to keep himself from feeling guilty, but now that he did, he felt even guiltier. Every time Hermione tried to talk to him whether it be about the Ball or class, he would ignore her, and when she wasn't looking, he would look and see the defeated look on her face. There was many times where he wanted to cave in and tell her he wasn't mad, but he had a reputation to protect, and with or without his prejudice father, he was still a Malfoy, which meant he had too much pride for his own good.

He got tired of thinking of Hermione and taking his anger out on his broom stick. He walked into the bathroom to get ready for bed. As he did, he heard the voice of Hermione and another girl in her room. He walked over and put his ear near the door straining his ear to listen.

"Hermione, why couldn't you just tell me the password?" one voice said.

_Eck, it's the Weaslette_ thought Draco.

"Because Ginny, Dumbledore said I couldn't tell anyone" answered Hermione

"But 'Mione! You can't possibly think that Malfoy didn't already tell one of his so-called loser friends the password" said Ginny.

"Actually Ginny, I don't think he did…I've never seen or heard any of his friends in here, not even to visit" she replied.

"Well nevertheless, it was a stupid idea not to let anyone know the password. What if you were hurt and no one would be able to come and get you?"

"Ginny don't be daft, why on earth would I be in trouble in my own home?"

"Maybe Malfoy would hex you from the back, you never know" Ginny said

"Ginny, Malfoy wouldn't do that."

"Are you kidding?! He's made our years at Hogwarts hell! How could you say something like that?"

"Because, he may be a little rough around the edges, and he may be angry with me, but I think deep down he's just having a hard time and he'll eventually come around" Hermione told Ginny.

"What happened to him anyway? The last time I heard you were telling me, Harry and Ron how well you two were getting along and now all of a sudden you're sulking around. And don't think we don't see you looking at him at the Slytherin table! 'Cuz you know us, we're always watching out for you" Ginny said serious yet jokingly.

Draco felt that feeling again which he couldn't identify. He didn't know that Hermione was acting in such a way.

"I can't say anything Ginny, it's not my place. I know I can trust you, but it's none of my business to reveal someone else's. Especially since I'm not even supposed to know" Hermione confessed.

There was a moment of silence and Draco got nervous. He thought for a second that he might have been caught. Luckily, Ginny started to talk again.

"Well, I trust you, and if you really think that it's worth stressing yourself trying to help Malfoy…then I'm not going to stop you. Just be careful ok? Promise me?"

"I promise Ginny, I knew you would understand. There was no way I could talk to Harry and Ron about his. I tried to ask them, of course without mentioning any names, but unfortunately I guess it was too early in the morning and Ron barely had his pants over his ankles"

The two girls laughed and hugged each other.

"You can tell me anything at anytime 'Mione, I'll be hear for you. And don't worry, I won't let the boys know anything you told me"

"Thank you Gin. I guess I should get some sleep. I've been working all day for the Ball and the N.E.W.T's test that's coming up. If I knew it was going to be this much work, I would have thought more about what I was getting myself into before taking the position as Head Girl." Hermione said smiling.

"Aw I'm sorry 'Mione, I'll go then. I'll see you tomorrow during breakfast and you **ARE** going to eat even if I have to force the food down your throat. Do you understand me?" Ginny said.

Draco was a little shocked. He knew the Weaslette had a reputation of being practically the toughest of all Weasel's, but he never got a first hand perspective.

"Yes ma'am!" said Hermione laughing. "I'm just going to the bathroom to get ready for bed. See you tomorrow!"

"Bye"

Draco, using his seeker like speed, shot out of the bathroom and to his room. He couldn't believe it. He had no idea how hard Hermione was trying to be friends with him. Once again she was making him feel guilty, but he knew he couldn't give in just yet. He listened to the running water. Instead of waiting for Hermione to finish, he was so overwhelmed he just crawled under his covers and instantly fell asleep. The last thought on his mind was going with Hermione to the Winter Ball.

* * *

**(A/N) Well, I'm not too fond of this chapter…but I already know what I'm going to write for the next chapter and I absolutely LOVE THE IDEA!!!!**

**If you're a hard core Draco and Hermione person, then trust me when I say you'll love my idea as well :D**


	9. The Winter Ball

**(A/N) And here's the chapter you all have been waiting for:D far be it from me to keep you from reading! Go ahead and get started on reading! **

* * *

**Chapter 9:**

A heated Quidditch game was taking place at the Quidditch pitch. The stands were completely filled and the weather was nice and clear, a perfect day for a match. The teams playing were Slytherin and Ravenclaw. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were in the stands with the rest of his team. Harry being captain, made sure he was at every game, studying the forms used by the opposing teams and taking note at the various areas the snitched appeared since he was the seeker. Harry ordered the rest of his team to do the same and keep track of the people that were playing their individual positions. This was a very smart strategy, no other captain has thought of the idea. Each Gryffindor player focused and ignored the screaming crowd.

Draco had just successfully dodged a bludger. He flew high up into the sky and scanned the field for the snitch. His eyes then laid on one of the Gryffindor stands. He could clearly see the top of Hermione's head sitting next to Potter and Weasley. Draco dived down and looked for Skyler. Draco had always made sure to keep a close watch on the opposing seeker. He finally found Skyler flying towards Hermione. When Skyler got there, he flew up and made himself eyelevel with her and gave her a soft kiss on the lips. Hermione blushed and the girls around her gave deep sighs. Harry and Ron however took their concentration off of the game and glared at Skyler. Draco merely rolled his eyes and went in search for the snitch again.

"GOAL! Slytherin!" yelled the commentator. "It's a good thing Malfoy decided to put girls on the team eh folks?"

"Mr. Jordan, detention with me on Monday" said McGonagall.

"Aw but Professor-"

"No buts Mr. Jordan. Monday"

"And there you have it folks! If you're looking for me on Monday…I'll be scrubbing the Transfigeration floor! Now back to the game! Another ten points to Slytherin!"

Draco finally saw the snitch and zoomed after it. Suddenly his left side was slammed into by Skyler meeting him inch for inch. This was the first time Draco was ever racing Skyler for the snitch. Ever since Cho Chang quite from the Quidditch team, Skyler has been the seeker and Draco has always caught the snitch way before Skyler did and never even had to talk to him.

"You're not gonna win this time Malfoy" said Skyler.

Draco lost focus for a while. He knew he had heard that voice before somewhere before, but he couldn't remember where. He shrugged it off and turned his attention back to the snitch, not even bothering to say anything back to him. The two flew around the field trying to dodge bludgers and the rest of the players on the field. Finally, one of the beaters, Marissa Steel, tackled Skyler and he nearly fell off his broom. Without Skyler by his side, Draco was able to go full speed and catch the snitch. The Slytherin crowd boomed and Draco landed in the middle of the field while he was congratulated for winning the game. He looked over and saw Hermione, Potter and Weasley with the rest of the Gryffindor team. Hermione ran over to Skyler who was rubbing the side of his arm. Draco smirked and looked over at Marissa, silently thanking her as she nodded back to him. He then heard Hermione speak.

"Skyler are you ok?! Does it hurt?"

"No it doesn't hurt. I'm fine, don't worry" said Skyler.

"Damn it, I was just about to go and marry that Marissa Steel girl for tackling him. I don't care if she's only a fifth year" whispered Ron to Harry as he laughed. Even Draco smirked at the joke and let out a snicker.

Luckily neither Hermione nor Skyler heard and they continued to talk.

"Oh thank goodness. I can't believe that girl did that! Are they even allowed to tackle you?" asked Hermione

"If we aren't, they should make an exception for when **we** play Ravenclaw" whispered Harry this time to Ron as they laughed again.

"No, they're not allowed to tackle, but don't worry about it, she's just a naïve little bitch" said Skyler.

"Skyler, you watch your language!" said Hermione sternly.

Skyler put his head down and kissed her on the cheek. "Sorry 'Mione"

Draco's face went pale. Now he knew. He remembered hearing that exact voice say those words, "_naïve little bitch"._ There was no doubt about it. Skyler was going to try to rape Hermione. Draco's face went from pale to red, more red than Ron's hair. Right when he was about to lunge himself onto Skyler, Blaise witnessed Draco's reaction and grabbed him, leading him out of the crowd before anyone suspected anything. As Blaise was struggling to keep Draco still and away from the people, he was trying to talk to him.

"Draco, mate, what the hell is your problem?" he asked frantically.

"It's him! It was fuckin' him Blaise! IT WAS HIM!" Draco yelled struggling to get out of Blaise's grip so he could snap Skyler's neck.

"What are you talking about?! Calm your ass down now!" Blaise slammed Draco against the wall hard. Blaise knew that Draco calmed himself down by pain. Instantly, Draco's breathing slowed. "Now, tell me what happened, and who are you talking about?"

Draco slowly breathed in and out. "Skyler…"

"Who the fuck is that?"

"That bloke Granger's dating"

"What about him?" Blaise asked curiously.

"Remember that voice I told you about when we were doing that project for Snape? Well it was his voice, Skyler's. I heard it, I didn't realize it at first but it was definitely him!" Draco closed his eyes and tried to calm himself down more. "You were right to stop me though Blaise, if I had punched him right there, I would have been in so much trouble from McGonagall that—Blaise?"

When Draco opened his eyes he saw that Blaise wasn't in front of him anymore but walking away from him towards the Quidditch Pitch rolling up his sleeves ready to kill Skyler.

"Blaise! Get back here!" Draco yelled and ran after Blaise. When he reached him, this time he was the one holding Blaise back and the roles were switched.

"Draco get off! I'll kill him!"

"Which is why I'm not letting go! Take your own advice and calm your ass down!" exclaimed Draco. Blaise was still not listening so Draco did the only thing he could do: he tackled Blaise to the ground and sat on his back to prevent him from moving.

"Ok, ok, you win. Get off me" said a defeated Blaise.

"Glad you see it my way" Draco said as he got off of him.

"So what the hell are we going to do? Sit back and wait until something bad happens?" asked Blaise

"Think about it! What can we do? If we beat him up Potter and Weasley would kick our asses! And worse! Granger would Avada us! And don't think she won't! Draco pointed out.

Blaise just looked at him. He knew he was right. The only thing they could do was catch him in the act, and they both knew that wouldn't be pretty.

"Are you sure you don't have a thing for the Gryffindor?" asked Blaise

Draco then slapped Blaise across the head.

* * *

It was the day before the Ball and it was a Hogsmede weekend. Hermione and Ginny were shopping for dresses, shoes, and accessories as Harry, Ron, and Skyler went to get fitted for dress robes. Ginny was going through dress after dress; she just couldn't decide which one she wanted. She went through every color known to wizard kind and more styles then Hermione knew existed. 

"Ginny? Do you have money to pay for your dress?" asked Hermione.

"Yeah, mum sent me money for this, loads, but don't tell Ron that! He'll go mad" said Ginny giggling. "Do you have your money?"

"Yup, mum exchanged some muggle money for some galleons. She really wants me to have the perfect dress, shoes, jewelry, everything" said Hermione.

"Uh, I know what you mean! That's exactly why mum gave me so much money! When are you going to start looking around for your dress?" Ginny asked.

"Well, I pre-selected all the stuff I wanted. All I have to do is go to the register and pick them up" Hermione said as she shifted in her seat.

Ginny saw this and got suspicious. "'Mione? What are you hiding?"

Hermione looked around the room uncomfortably. "You promise not to tell anybody?" said Hermione.

"Of course!"

"Ok…I didn't pre-order the dress…I designed it and I sent the sketch over to get it made…I made the list of materials and colors I wanted used and everything! The lady making it was kind of hesitant about it because it was a muggle dress, but I love the design so much!" Hermione said blushing.

"Hermione that's so great! I don't think I've ever seen a **real** muggle dress. You know, one that was for special occasions. I'm sure yours will be beautiful! When do I get to see it?" asked Ginny excitedly.

"Well I-"

"Excuse me are you Hermione Granger?" asked a lady.

Hermione turned around to look at the lady. "Oh Katani! Hello! Ginny, this is the lady who made my dress" Hermione said smiling.

"Hello nice to meet you" said Ginny shaking the lady's hand.

"Nice to meet you too" she said with a smile. "Hermione, your dress is done, would you like to see it now?"

"Oh yes that would be great, we were just talking about at actually" Hermione said.

"Excellent, I'll be right back."

The lady left and went to the back room.

"Oh my goodness I'm so excited!" exclaimed Ginny.

Hermione laughed. "Calm down Ginny, it's not that big of a deal."

"Oh I know Hermione but you know me when it comes to dresses, and the fact that yours is a muggle dress makes it all the more exciting! I just can't wait to see how you look in-" and then Ginny gave out a huge gasp. Her eyes went wide and glassy and she was at a loss for words. "Oh my…Hermione…it's beautiful!..."

Hermione turned around and smiled. She looked at the dress she designed up and down with a sense of pride. She couldn't wait to pick up all her accessories and try everything on.

Every woman in the store looked at the dress in awe. A few even walked up to Katani and asked if there were any other dresses in different sizes and colors. Katani sadly told them all no and that it was an original. When the women asked who had made the dress, she simply pointed at Hermione.

This made Hermione very uncomfortable. She didn't want all the attention of rich middle aged women with snobby faces. Each looked like they were about to yank her dress away from Katani and run out of the store with it. Noticing this, it was Ginny who suggested she pay for the dress as soon as possible and get out. Hermione did and gave a hug to Katani along with the money and she split from the store.

"Oh Merlin" said Ginny, "I thought we were about to get jumped in that store"

"I know! I couldn't believe it" said Hermione

"Well now we know that next time you make a dress, make sure you do your business in private" Ginny suggested.

"Will do Gin, will do."

"We should get the rest of our accessories and go back to the school. I wanna make sure everything fits ok in case we have to come back for last minute returns" said Ginny.

"Alright"

The girls walked around and picked up their items for another hour. Harry, Ron, and Skyler had already left back to the castle. Skyler went back to the Ravenclaw tower with his friends as Harry and Ron went back to the Gryffindor Tower playing wizard's chest.

Ginny and Hermione finally got done with their business and headed back to the castle. Hermione went straight back to the Head's Tower. She was too eager to try on all her stuff. When she walked in, Draco was sitting on the sofa reading a book. He had been there all day debating whether or not to tell Hermione what he had found out. When Hermione saw him, she ignored him and started to walk up to her room. Draco however got up from the sofa and started walking after her.

"Granger--" Draco said as he walked towards her

"Don't talk to me right now Malfoy, I'm busy" she said still not looking at him

"Granger you don't understand, this is really important--" Draco said. He was right behind her now.

Hermione turned around and was face to face with him, just mere inches apart. "I SAID…don't talk to me" She then turned away from him and started to walk up her stairs.

"Granger wait!" Draco tried to follow her up the stairs but the lion forbade him. "FUCK YOU, YOU BLOODY CAT!" yelled Draco and he turned around furious and marched out of the Head's Tower.

Draco went down to the Slytherin Dungeons and looked for Blaise. Draco decided to stay there for the night. He did want to stay in the same area as Hermione at the moment. Draco and Blaise spent the whole night debating what to do about the whole Skyler situation. Draco told him about almost telling her what he knew and Blaise wasn't being too gentle.

"Well what the fuck did you expect? You make friends with her, get mad at her for something she didn't even to intentionally do to you, avoid her for months, and then all of a sudden expect her to talk to you? You can't get everything mate" Blaise said.

"Thanks for putting it nicely" said Draco sarcastically.

"Shut up and go to sleep you git" said Blaise as he threw a pillow at Draco.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm going…Hey, who are you taking to the Ball tomorrow?" Draco asked.

"I'm taking Millicent Bulstrode. Well…more like she's taking me. She really wouldn't take no for an answer. Who are you taking?" he asked.

"I'm taking Marissa Steel. I'll take any girl to the Ball who can tackle an arse like Skyler. She's pretty cool actually. She's nothing like Pansy. She may probably be the only Slytherin who just wants to be friends instead of sex buddies" Draco said.

"Shocker there…" said Blaise

"Tell me about it. Cool with me though, that's all I wanted anyway" he said

"What?" asked Blaise

"A friend…" said Draco

There was a moment of silence. The two Slytherin boys were having a touching moment and anyone who's anyone knew who had to ruin it.

"So what the hell am I? Pumpkin juice?" said Blaise jokingly.

The two laughed hysterically. After a few minutes, the two couldn't breathe and were clutching their sides. After another hour of talking, they finally fell asleep and waited for the next day when the Ball began.

* * *

The sun rose and so did Draco and Blaise. The day went by surprisingly quickly and soon every girl in the castle was getting ready for the Ball. The guys of course didn't have to worry on the count of they didn't have much to do. The Ball started at seven in the evening and it was six. Draco and Blaise decided to go to the Head's tower. Draco hadn't been there since the night before and there was still stuff he had to get before the Ball. When they arrived at the portrait Draco looked at Blaise. 

"…What?" said Blaise curiously.

"Go away" Draco said

"Huh?" Blaise said raising his eyebrow

"I'm not allowed to give out the password" Draco said.

"Merlin you're kidding me…" Blaise said, but he turned around and closed his ears.

"When Lions and Serpents Meet" and the Serpent bowed and swung the portrait door open as the Lion glared.

Draco walked in and Blaise followed. Blaise took a good look around the room, it was the first time he had ever seen the Head's Tower and he was very impressed. All of a sudden, he slammed into the back of Draco and nearly fell over. When he looked at Draco, he was just standing there with his eyes wide. He followed Draco's gaze and saw why he was acting the way he was.

When Draco walked into the door, the first thing he saw was Hermione. He stopped right in his place and also stopped breathing. She looked beautiful. Period. Draco was surprised that he was still standing. He had never seen someone so beautiful before in his life. The dress she wore was of nothing he had ever seen either. It was a tube dress that had two layers and stopped at her knees. The under layer was a silk dark red/pink material and a see through black material with embroidered flowers with white diamonds at various places at the skirt. Her shoes were black stilettos and she wore pink diamond ear rings and necklace with a diamond bracelet. Her hair was down and bouncy. She charmed it so that glittered; it looked like the brightest of all the stars fell and landed to shine brightly in her hair.

**(A/N) ok, I really don't know how to explain how she looks, so being the GREAT person that I am, I took the liberty of finding what everything looks like. If you want to see the dress and everything else Hermione is wearing, go to my fanfiction profile and i'll have the links there :D Everything you see is EXACTLY what Hermione is wearing. PLEASE tell me what you think of them! PLEASE!!!!)**

"Blimey, she's got our smirk" whispered Blaise to Draco and Draco nodded.

"Good evening" said Hermione. She walked down her stairs and grabbed her black rap. "Have fun at the Ball" she said with a smile and walked out the door. When she left, Draco still did not say anything.

"I told you that you would fall for the Gryffindor" said Blaise at last

**WHACK!** Draco slapped Blaise at the side of the head.

"You know, you are very abusive" Blaise said rubbing the side of his head.

"She looked…she looked…" Draco stuttered

"I know mate, I know…she looked beautiful"

The two went up to Draco's room to get the rest of what he needed and then went to downstairs to the Great Hall for the Ball. When they got there, it was 7:00pm on the dot. They were instantly greeted by McGonagall.

"Where have you been Mr. Malfoy? You're suppose to be attending the Ball with Ms. Granger and you have to open it by dancing first! Please don't tell me you forgot!"

Draco's face paled again. He had completely forgotten. Fortunately for him, Marissa was right next to him and heard McGonagall.

"Draco you should go. Don't worry about me, I'm fine with it believe me" she said

Draco nodded at her and said thanks. McGonagall then took him by the arm and led him to Hermione. Draco again felt his throat tighten and he was unable to talk.

"Now, the two of you are to open the Ball by dancing to the first song. Get in positions please"

Draco held out his arm and swallowed hard. Hermione took it and walked towards the center of the floor. The music started to play and they began to dance. All the guys had their eyes on Hermione and every girl in the room had their eyes on Draco. They looked perfect together, two beautiful people dancing to a beautiful song on a beautiful night. Draco finally got the courage to say something.

"Granger, uh…you look…nice" he said

Hermione looked at him and gave a small smile. "Thanks Malfoy. You don't look too bad yourself"

"Thanks…you know, I'm sorry about the past few months…There's things that you don't understand, and I couldn't tell you because—"

"Malfoy, shut up. It's ok, I forgive you. I don't want anything to ruin this night. I've accepted that you needed time to yourself and that I'm going to have to be with you the whole night. Just enjoy it ok?" she said with a smile, a real smile.

Draco looked at her, and for the first time in a long time, he really looked deep into her eyes and smiled back at her. Before they knew it, the song was over and everyone clapped. They still didn't look away from each other and it was like time went by too fast, as they both heard Dumbledore's voice.

"I would like to thank our Head Boy and Head Girl: Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger! They have graciously offered to plan this occasion-" at this Draco and Hermione both smirked as they both knew very well that they were forced. "and what a find job they did! Now, far be it from me to delay your fun any longer. Students of Hogwarts, the Winter Ball has officially begun!" With that, fake snow flakes lightly fell from the sky, and disappeared before it hit the floor.

Hermione turned away from Dumbledore and looked at Draco. "Hey um, I know we're suppose to be here together but is it ok if I have a dance or two with Skyler?"

Draco flinched at hearing the name. He had forgotten about Skyler. "Actually Granger, I know we said not to ruin the night but there's something I have to tell you"

"Oh well I'm sure you can tell me later, there's Skyler" said Hermione

"Granger wait!" he called

"See you in a bit!" yelled Hermione over her shoulder.

"Oh no…" Draco whispered to himself.

Draco went to find Blaise, he needed someone to help him through this time. Currently, Blaise was sitting down at one of the tables while Millicent and Marissa were talking.

"Hey mate. Man, that dress Granger was wearing was so different! Must be muggle. Who knew muggles could dress so good huh?" he said slyly.

"Yeah, but we have a problem, she's out with that Skyler ass hole right now. He's probably going to make his move tonight. Did you think of a plan yet?"

"No man I didn't. Like you said, what are we suppose to do?"

Draco thought for a while. He looked around the room and saw Harry and Ron. They seemed to be looking around the room as well. They were looking to make sure Hermione was safe, just like what Draco and Blaise were doing. Draco then saw Ron point somewhere. He followed the direction and saw Skyler and Hermione exiting the Great Hall. Draco nudged Blaise and started to walk out of the Great Hall just as Harry and Ron were. For some reason, most of the people in the Great Hall were heading out too.

When they arrived, the hall was so crowded that it was hard to get through. They could hear Hermione yelling at Skyler. Harry, Ron, Blaise, and Draco all reached the front of the action. Skyler had Hermione up against the wall and was yelling at her.

"I SAID YOU WILL!" he bellowed.

"AND I SAID I WON'T! NOW LET ME GO THIS INSTANT YOU FUCKIN' CREEP!" Hermione screamed back.

That's when it happened. Skyler raised his right hand and with great strength slapped Hermione across the face. The hit was so strong and loud that it echoed through the halls. Everyone had their eyes wide and their mouths hanging open. No one moved and it was so quiet you could have heard the fake snow fall. Even Harry and Ron were too shocked at what they had just witnessed. Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked around at all the faces. All of them looked the same: shocked; except a certain group of people.

All the Slytherins, boys and girls alike, had faces more red than Ron's hair and looked as if they were about to hunt and kill. Everyone but the Slytherins backed away and then the silence was broken.

"HOW DARE YOU!" yelled Pansy Parkinson

All the Slytherin girls walked up from where they were standing, pushed Skyler away and went to Hermione's aid. Hermione was so shocked she fell to the ground. They picked her up and started to mutter soothing words to her.

"Are you ok?"

"Can I get you anything?"

"He's an ass!"

Hermione tried to ignore them and looked at what else was happening. The Slytherin boys had made a circle around Skyler and were closing in on him. Blaise was the first boy to speak.

"EVERYONE GET BACK!" he yelled.

The boys, still ready to kick some ass, unwillingly stepped back. Skyler looked confused and stared at Blaise. Blaise then turned to Draco and said two words:

"Get him"

Draco lunged at Skyler and punched him good in the jaw. That one blow made him fall over and Draco climbed on top of him and threw more punches. Left. Right. Left. Right. With each punch, Draco yelled.

"DON'T. YOU. EVER. HIT. A. WOMAN. YOU. STUPID. BLOODY. BASTARD. I'LL. KILL. YOU!" Draco continued to yell.

Harry and Ron were still at a loss for words. They were so lost and even Hermione couldn't blame them. Everyone then heard a loud pop and it looked like Draco had just broken Skyler's nose. At that point, the Slytherin boys then grabbed Draco and tried to pull him off of the bastard.

"NO! NO! LET GO OF ME! I'M NOT DONE WITH HIM!" Draco yelled.

"Draco stop! It's done! He's finish! Just go to your tower before one of the professor's come!"

Draco took one last look at Skyler, spat on him, and left. Hermione, eyes wide, went after Draco. Skyler had gotten up by this time. When Hermione passed him, he grabbed Hermione's wrist and started to yank her towards him. BIG mistake. Before any of the boys could get to him, Marissa Steel went up and gave him a good right hook to his already broken nose.

"Let go of her or I'll shove my six inch heels up your ass!"

Skyler let her go and before Hermione left, she gave him one more slap across the face ran to find Draco. She quickly gave the password and she rushed into the common room and she immediately saw Draco pacing back and forth behind the couch. He saw her and stopped.

"Malfoy, I-" Hermione began, but Draco cut her off.

"I tried to tell you Granger! I TRIED TO TELL YOU! But you wouldn't listen to me! You know, for the smartest witch of your age you are STUPID! I WAS TRYING TO HELP YOU! I TRIED! BUT YOU DIDN'T LISTEN! WHY!"

"Malfoy I know I didn't listen and I'm sorry but-"

"Don't 'but' me! You could have gotten hurt! You're just lucky we were there"

"Why did you do it?! Why did you all do that for a mudblood like me!? Why was I all of a sudden good enough to have the protection of the almighty pureblood Slytherins?! HUH! ANSWER ME!"

Draco looked at her, anger building up inside him. "Is that what you think? Is that what you think of us? Let me tell you something Granger, we may seem heartless, prejudice, and cold blooded, BUT WE'RE NOT! WE DAMN WELL CARE WHAT HAPPENS IF AN INNOCENT WOMAN IS HURT! WHY THE HELL DO YOU THINK WE GET READY TO MURDER WHEN SOMEONE INSULTS OUR MUMS?! WHY DO YOU THINK WE GLARE AT EVERY FUCKIN' COUPLE IN THE SCHOOL?! YOU THINK WE'RE **JEALOUS** OF THEM? NO! WE'RE MAKING SURE THE SCUM BUCKET THE GIRL'S WITH WON'T HURT HER! WHY DO YOU THINK WE GET SO MADE WHEN YOU GRYFFINDOR'S CALL US CARELESS? HEARTLESS? EVERYTHING!..." Draco looked at her. She looked like she was about to cry. "…you just don't understand…we really do care…" Draco put a hand under her chin and tilted it up. "**I** really do care…"

Hermione looked up at him and a tear ran down her cheek. "Draco…thank you. I'm sorry for making you mad, I'm sorry for not listening to you, I'm sorry for ignoring you, I'm sorry for everything, just…please forgive me."

Draco looked down at her. His eyes were soft and all the anger inside him ceased to exist. His hand fell from her face and he gazed deep into her eyes. "It's no problem…Hermione. Just…don't think I won't be there for you if that git Skyler comes back around."

He unwillingly turned away from her and started to walk up his stairs. Hermione stood there watching his back until it disappeared into his room. All she did was think to herself.

_He…saved me…He actually saved me…He cares for me…and…I care for him…Oh gods…do I like Draco Malfoy? The guy who made me miserable since I arrived at Hogwarts seven years ago? No…I can't…I-I don't like him…_ she looked at his door once again. The thought hit her so clearly she couldn't believe it. She slowly made her way to the steps. The serpent then popped up and looked at her. She looked down at it and it looked back up at her. He then slithered to the side allowing her entrance. Hermione smiled and ran as fast as she could up the stairs. When she reached the top, she pounded on the door very loudly and hurriedly.

"Draco! Draco! Open up!" she yelled through the door.

Draco opened the door sur

prised. "Hermione what are you--"

He was cut off. Hermione through her arms around Draco's neck connected her lips to his. Hermione did not like Draco Malfoy. She loved him, and she couldn't deny it. She just closed her eyes and kissed the guy she knew she loved.

When Hermione threw herself on him, Draco's eyes went wide. He definitely wasn't expecting this. For the first few seconds, Draco stood there with his arms slightly raised. Then, that feeling he got a few times before came back to him. This time, he knew what it was. It was love. He's never experienced it before until now. He closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her tight. He didn't want to let go of her. He opened his mouth and licked the line of her lips. Hermione all too eagerly agreed and opened her mouth for him to gain access. She tightened her grip around his neck and deepened the kiss as Draco attempted to bring her even closer to him though he knew it wasn't possible. He held onto her as if his life depended on it. He picked her up in the air and swung her in a slow circle, their lips never leaving each other.

He carried her over to his bed and gently laid her down. He crawled in next to her and held her, just held her protectively. He wanted her for himself and he didn't care what anyone said. She was his Hermione, his love, his everything, and he wouldn't want anyone to hurt her. Hermione put light kisses on his neck and snuggled close to him. The two spent the night cuddling close to each other. He held onto her preciously and she gratefully welcomed his embrace. They wanted to be as close to each other as possible.

Draco laid there with a smile on his face. He looked down at Hermione who was sleeping on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. He ran his hands through her soft hair "Hermione…I love you" he knew she couldn't hear him, but he didn't care. He had to say it, and he didn't care who heard it. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. His last thoughts were of his love, Hermione, and hitting Blaise again because…he was right…he had fallen for the Gryffindor.

* * *

**(A/N) So what did you think? **

**Please don't kill me for leaving you off here hehe… **

**Seriously :D**


	10. Red and Green Mix

**(A/N) Here's the next chapter! Sorry for the extra day of wait haha. HERE WE GO!**

* * *

**Chapter 10: Red and Green Mix**

Hermione was sleeping comfortably in her bed with a smile on her face. Suddenly, she felt a slight tickling sensation on her right ear lobe. Her eyes fluttered open and she was greeted by the dull light of the sun shining through the window. Looking over her shoulder, Hermione saw a very happy Draco with a big smile plastered over his face. He had just been nibbling on her ear lobe and dived in for her neck. He placed feather light kisses on her, making her giggle.

"Well, well, good morning Dra-" she started, but was interrupted when Draco kissed her right in the middle of her sentence. It was a sweet and soft kiss. Hermione could feel him grinning against her lips and she grinned back.

"Good morning, love" Draco said as he wrapped his arm around Hermione pulling her closer.

She snuggled up against his chest and played with a loose string on his buttoned up shirt. "Good morning, Draco" she said with a smile he could not see. Then, realization dawned on her. _If Draco was still wearing his nice white buttoned up shirt, then that would mean…_She looked down at what she was wearing and sure enough, she was still in her originally designed (and quite expensive) dress. She shot up from the bed causing a startling reaction from Draco.

"Hey! What's wrong?" he said. Hermione looked at him and saw how soft his features were. His eyes were not cold and hard, but warm and caring. He also wore a small frown. Hermione's heart automatically melted.

"I'm so sorry love, nothing's wrong" she said as she gave him a gentle kiss on the lips, making him smile once more. "I just realized I didn't change and I'm still in my dress. I'm going to take a bath alright?"

Draco nodded. "Alright, me too" he said.

Hermione turned around and looked at him questionably. Realizing what he had just said, Draco's eyes widened. "Oh no, no, no! That's not what I meant Hermione, I meant I was going to take a shower while you were taking a bath"

Hermione still continued to look at him with a raised eye brow and was fighting the urge to laugh at his expression. Draco realized that what he said still sounded as if suggesting the wrong idea. "WHAT I MEAN IS…I'll put a temporary wall in the bathroom so we could both have our privacy…" Draco took his eyes off Hermione's and rested his chin on his hand to think. "Yup, that's what I meant" he said smiling and looking back at her.

Hermione let out a high pitched laugh. "I knew what you meant the whole time Draco, I was just playing with you like what I did that one time you made us breakfast"

Draco let out a growl from deep inside his throat. "I'm gonna get you…_Granger_"

"Just try it…_Malfoy"_ she said smiling.

Draco then shot up from the bed and started to chase after her. Hermione was taken by surprise and it was too late to run. Draco had grabbed onto her and pulled her down onto the carpeted floor and started to tickle her senseless. Hermione was laughing so hard that she was on the verge of tears. Finally, Draco got off and helped her up. As she as she was standing, she firmly hit Draco's chest.

"HMPH!" she said.

"Ow! What was that for?" Draco asked as he rubbed his hard chest.

"For being just like Harry and Ron" Hermione said with her nose up in the air.

"Ouch, now THAT was the ultimate insult Hermione" Draco said as he put his hands over his heart showing a hurt expression. Hermione just laughed and made her way to her bedroom.

"I'm going to get my things for my bath" she said over her back.

"Alright" he said. He looked for his clothes and made his way to the bathroom. When he got there, he made his way over to the bath tub and turned on the water. He added the bubbles and turned off the water when the tub was completely filled. The, he conjured a divider between the bathtub and the shower. He wasted no more time. He stripped himself of his clothes and entered the shower, turning on the hot water.

Hermione entered the bathroom right as Draco turned on the water. She could see the steam floating from the top of the divider and into her side of the bathroom. She smiled and got into the already filled bathtub. _He's so sweet_ Hermione thought as the warm water made contact with her body. Hermione took her lufa and started to wash her body. While getting cleaned up, she got caught up in her thoughts.

_This seems a little…fast. I have no idea what came over me last night…I know that I have feelings for Draco and I'm pretty sure that it is love, but…how is everyone going to react? Are we going to keep it a secret? Why did Draco agree to respond so quickly when I first kissed him? I wonder if he had feelings for me before all this drama happened…But if he did, why was he acting the way he was before the Ball? He was always ignoring me…Maybe I'll just ask him everything. What harm could it do? _she sighed._ Who would have thought that Hermione Granger, Gryffindor Princess of all bookworms would fall for the Slytherin Prince himself, Draco Malfoy?_

Hermione smiled at the thought and laid her head back, taking advantage of her time of piece. _And I hope Skyler burns in hell._ This thought made Hermione's smile widen.

For what seemed like a couple of minutes was actually twenty. Draco had already gotten out of his shower and gotten dressed for the day. Luckily there were no classes. He was now knocking on the bathroom door waiting for Hermione to speak. Her head shot up at the realization that she had dozed off and spoke.

"Oh bugger! Um, I'll be right out Draco!"

"It's ok, take your time. I'll be downstairs in the common room alright?"

"Ok"

Hermione got out of the tub and grabbed her towel. She saw that there was no longer the barrier separating the tub and the shower. Going to her room, she got dressed and did a few quick spells to dry her hair and let them fall in soft ringlets. She smiled at herself in the mirror and went downstairs. When she arrived, she was greeted by a very confused Draco looking something.

"Um…Draco are you ok? What are you looking at?" she asked as she walked next to him and tried to follow his gaze. She immediately saw and then too started to stare, but was fully aware of what was happening and began to laugh lightly. Draco looked at her and raised an eyebrow, still confused.

"What's so funny? I know they look rather…cute…I guess, but I really don't get it" Draco said.

Hermione looked at the scene once again. Her lion and Draco's serpent were _playing_ with each other. One could clearly see the happy expressions on the animals' faces as they both jumped up and down and were playing with a long piece of string on the floor.

"Well, a couple of months ago before you started to avoid me for no reason, Dumbledore told me that these two animals are kind of like a representation of our feelings. Before, the animals wouldn't even look at each other; and when they did, they looked ready to kill. But now that you and I…changed our feelings, so did they. It's quite brilliant actually." Hermione explained.

Draco thought back to the time Hermione's lion was willingly allowing Draco to enter her room that one day after he got out of the shower. "So that's why…" he said.

The two stood a little while longer admiring the two happily playing animals. "Anyway," started Draco, "I made us coffee, here" and he handed the cup of coffee to Hermione.

"Thanks" she said, taking the cup. "Draco, can we talk about something?"

Draco looked to the ground. His expression suggested that he knew this was going to happen. He ran his hands through his hair, exhaling. "Sure, let's sit on the sofa" he said, taking her hand and leading her to the couch. Draco sat down and Hermione sat down to his right. He put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer as Hermione cuddled next to him, both still drinking their coffee. "What did you want to talk about love?"

"Well, I was just wondering…about last night. Even though you might not want to talk about it, would you mind explaining everything to me from your perspective? I know it sounds like something stupid to ask but there's other things I want to ask you and I can't unless I know this first" Hermione said, thankful that Draco wasn't able to see her face at the moment fore she was blushing a deep red.

"It's not problem Hermione, you can ask me anything" he said as he played with her soft hair. "I guess I should start with the first day of class. Do you remember that potion Snape had us brew that allowed us to hear another person's thoughts?"

Hermione looked up at him and giggled. "Yes, how could I forget? I ended up listening to five minutes of Pansy going on and on about how she was in love with you and how she was jealous I was Head Girl"

This came to a surprise to Draco. "Oh really now? I truly feel sorry for you for having to listen to that. Anyway, I ended up with that crazy lunatic, Skyler. I didn't know it was him at first, but those five minutes I had to listen to are definitely going to be one of the worst five minutes of my life. He kept going on about gaining the trust of his so-called girlfriend so that he could get her into his bed and rape her. He said that he would go to abuse if he had to. By the end of it, I was so angered and fired up, I wanted to find out who the bastard was. Like I told you before, we, as in most Slytherins, had to watch our mothers get tortured or killed, so you could imagine how we feel about women getting hurt"

"Yes I got a first hand view last night" said Hermione slightly sad and ashamed for making fun of Slytherins for so long.

"Yeah you did, and Skyler got what he had coming to him" Draco said with a smirk.

"How did you know it was him though?" asked Hermione curiously.

"When we were playing Ravenclaw in the last Quidditch match," here Hermione rolled her eyes because everything seemed to lead to Quidditch when boys were concerned, "we were racing neck and neck for the snitch. I've never heard the fool talk before until that moment. He said something to me and I couldn't recognize the voice at first, but after I caught the snitch and heard him talk more, then it hit me. I was going to punch him out right there but Blaise stopped me. We eventually decided not to do anything yet because you and I were still on bad terms and you probably wouldn't have believed me if I told you anyway because I was 'a slimy, sneaky, not good Slytherin' am I right?" He looked down at her.

Hermione felt a little embarrassed because he was in fact right. If he had told her she probably wouldn't have believed him. "Right…" she said looking down.

"It's ok love, I forgive you. The main point is: Blaise and I saw him take you out of the Great Hall, we followed, saw him hit you, and I broke the bloke's nose" Draco finished laughing.

"I know! I couldn't believe all that happened in the hall. I wonder why none of the Professors showed up" pondered Hermione.

"I don't know but I'm glad. What happened after I left?"

"Well, I went to follow you but that jerk tried to stop me, and then that Marissa Steel punched him good in the nose again. Let me tell you, that is one girl I would NOT want to mess with" Hermione said with a smile.

"I hope he gets that nose healed well enough for me to break it again" Draco said under his breath. Unfortunately, Hermione heard.

"Draco, don't start. I've been worried about what might happen to you. You seriously injured a student and that's…Draco stop laughing!"

"Oh sorry…" Draco said as he stopped himself from laughing, thinking about how good if felt to punch Skyler.

"As I was saying," Hermione began, smiling at Draco, "what if they expel or suspend you for it? It wasn't just any fight, it was…gruesome."

"I don't care what they do to me, Skyler got what he deserved" said Draco as he put his coffee cup down next to Hermione's.

"But I don't want anything bad to happen to you…" Hermione said. She looked into Draco's steel eyes and gave him the best puppy dog face she could muster.

Draco looked at her trying desperately not to lose control and snog her senseless. "Ohhh Come here…" he said finally scooping her up in his arms and holding her closely. If he could, he would have held her there forever and cursed anyone who tried to get near her. "What else did you want to ask me 'Mione?"

Hermione pulled out of his embrace causing him to frown slightly. She saw this and put a small peck on his nose making him grin. "Do you love me?"

Draco's eyes widened and looked truly hurt. "Of course I do woman! Why would you ask me such a question?"

"Because…for the longest time I thought you hated me, even this year I thought you still did, and then all of a sudden after one night everything changed?"

"No, it wasn't after one night. After you kissed me, I felt this feeling inside me that I've been feeling ever since the beginning of the year whenever I thought about you…at first I didn't know what it was, but after last night I knew. I don't want you to ever doubt my love for you. If you want me to prove it, let me go and find Skyler one more time and I'll-"

"Ok, ok I believe you! Let's not have a repeat of last night" she said giggling. Then, once again she got serious. "Draco, what do we do about us?"

"What do you mean?" he asked

"I mean, what are we going to do? Are we going to show everyone that we're together or are we going to keep it a secret?"

Draco looked at her carefully. "Do you want it to be a secret?"

Hermione looked down at the floor. "I don't know what I want. I want to be with you and I really don't care who knows, my only concern is what people would think and how they would act around us. I don't want anyone to treat me differently or not be my friend just because of who I'm with. You know what I mean?"

"Yes I understand…" Draco paused to think. "Here's what we'll do, today, you tell Pothead and Weasel what-"

"Draco…" Hermione said sternly.

Draco sighed. "Fine, you tell _Potter and Weasley _what's happened between us and see how they react. I'll tell Blaise too but to be honest, with Blaise I don't think there'll be a problem. If all goes well, we'll make our relationship public. If not…we'll keep things secretive for a while."

"Sounds good to me. I just hope Harry and Ron don't get into trouble…"

"In trouble for what?" asked Draco

"For possibly beating you to a pulp when they find out" Hermione said casually.

Draco jumped up and looked at her with outrage and Hermione laughed.

"I was just kidding!...partially"

Draco was about to retort but was stopped by Hermione's lips.

* * *

"'MIONE!" Harry and Ron yelled when they saw her in the hall. They both gave her a big hug, refusing to let her go anytime soon. 

"We're so glad you're alright!" said Harry.

"And we're sorry for not doing anything when that arse hit you. We were too shocked to move! Please forgive us?" Ron asked questionably.

"It's alright you guys, I was never mad at you. Besides, Draco was there to put him in place was he not? By the way, what happened to Skyler anyway?" Hermione said.

Harry and Ron had smug looks on their face. "Well," started Ron, "right after you left, the professors finally showed up and saw the prick all bloodied up. When they asked what happened, everyone told them, and we mean EVERYONE. People suddenly found their voices after being so quiet from shock"

"Yeah, McGonagall had to tell them all to shut up and Dumbledore asked Blaise Zabini what happened since him and the rest of the Slytherins were pretty much quite after the fact that they were the only ones yelling during the 'incident.' After Zabini told the story, he asked me and Ron to confirm and we did" said Harry.

"And as a result of that, Skyler is now expelled from Hogwarts. Also, fifty house points were given to the Slytherin House for doing a 'really good deed.' But you know what, that's ok. They deserved it, especially Malfoy." Ron said

"Mhmm! And Marissa Steel! That is one girl I would NOT mess with" added Harry smiling.

"That's exactly what I said to Draco!" Hermione said laughing as well.

"It's true! That girl packs a mean right hook…Hey, when did you start calling Malfoy by his first name?" Ron asked.

Hermione blushed and looked around the halls to make sure no one was looking. She took the two boys by the hand and pulled them into an empty classroom. "Alright, I'm about to tell you two something but you have to promise to have an open mind and to not get mad. Ok?"

Harry and Ron looked at each other and made a silent agreement. They nodded at her to continue.

"Ok, well as you know, last night Draco stood up for me along with the rest of the Slytherins, and when we met back at the Head's Tower, we saw each other and he told me he cared for me and…to make it short, we're kind of…together now…" Hermione finished and closed her eyes quickly, waiting for the two of them to start yelling at her. To her surprise, there was no yelling, just complete silence. She opened one eye at a time to look at them. The two were looking at her with emotionless expressions. "Aren't you guys going to say something?"

"That's nice 'Mione" said Harry.

"Yeah, good for you" said Ron.

Hermione looked at them as if they'd gone mad. "That's really all you have to say? You're not going to yell or tell me that I'm associating with the enemy?"

"'Mione, as much as we hate, or hated, Malfoy, he saved you from that git Skyler when Ron and I couldn't. If Malfoy of all people can suck up his pureblood pride and help a muggle born, then I have no problem with him" explained Harry.

"And if you two are really a couple, Harry and I have no problem of trusting Malfoy to take care of you when we aren't around. But, as same with all the other guys, if he does in fact hurt you in any way, we'll break him" Ron stated.

Hermione looked at them, and for the first time in a long time, she had tears in her eyes. She knew her two best friends were great people, but this proved just how great they were. They were willing to be friends with their enemy for her. "Oh guys I love you!" she practically shouted as she threw her arms around the two. They hugged her back and they squeezed each other tight. Ron kissed her on the cheek and Harry rubbed the back of her head. This was truly what best friends looked like.

The Golden Trio walked out of the empty classroom. Harry had his arm around Hermione's shoulder and Ron had his arm around her waist. They walked down the hall in silence fore their hearts were stuck in their throats, and neither could do anything but smile.

The Gryffindors turned the corner and Draco saw them from the hall he was exiting in the opposite direction. Blaise was next to him telling him of what happened to Skyler. However, Blaise stopped talking when he saw who Draco was looking at.

"Hey mate, I have something to tell you" said Draco

"After you went to your tower, Hermione walked in the door and you lost your temper because she didn't listen to you. Then, after you apologized to each other you went up to your room, but then somehow found yourself kissing her and now you two are together but are afraid of letting the public know in fear of how they will react." Blaise said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Draco widened in eyes. "How in the bloody hell did you know that?"

"I'm just that good mate. I've known you forever like the back of my hand" replied Blaise.

"So I take it you're alright with me seeing Hermione?" asked Draco.

"Oh so it's 'Hermione' now is it?" Blaise laughed. "Yeah mate of course I'm ok with it. I don't care about all that pureblood rubbish. The rest of the Slytherins however, don't know how they'll take it. But, if they start acting like a bunch of bitches I'll slap them back in line for you."

Draco slapped Blaise on the back. "Oh what would I do if I didn't have a Zabini?" he asked rhetorically.

* * *

Hermione was sitting at her secret spot near the lake. She always went there when she wanted to be alone and think. Not necessarily about anything bad. Hermione took a deep breath to smell the air. Even though it was in the middle of December, she didn't feel as cold as she thought she would. She held her cloak closer to her and smiled. Suddenly, she felt a big thud on her shoulders. She looked up to see Draco who had just dropped his coat over her shoulders to keep her warmer. She smiled at his angelic face. Hermione wanted nothing more than to be close to him. As if reading her mind, Draco sat down behind her so she was in between his legs. H wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her. 

"Hermione?"

"Yes Draco?"

"I…I love you"

Hermione's heart inflated. Hearing the words come from his mouth was enough to make her smile. "I love you so much you don't even know"

Draco thought his heart was about to explode. He's never loved someone before and he's never known what it was like to be loved. He squeezed her again. He wondered if it was normal to want to be with someone so bad. It was so serious that he thought Hermione might get sick of him being too attached to her. He rubbed his cheek next to hers and held her like a teddy bear, rocking her from side to side.

"How did Blaise take the news love?" she asked.

"He was perfectly fine with it. Hell, he _predicted_ it. What about Potter and Weasley?" he asked

"They were surprisingly supportive. They even complimented you a time or two. I'm really proud of them."

"Does that mean we'll make ourselves public tomorrow?" Draco asked hopefully.

"I'm ready if you are" Hermione said as she exhaled.

"Then it's settled, tomorrow we'll show everyone."

"I'm sure they won't make too much of a big deal out of it right?" Hermione asked.

"Well, Blaise was telling me that the Slytherins might not take it too well. We'll just have to see." Draco confirmed.

"I'm glad I have you by my side, and that Skyler is out of my life."

"Yeah, I heard what happened to him. The stupid git" Draco got up and held out a hand to Hermione. She took it and stood up in front of Draco. He placed a hand under her chin and lifter it up to look into her yes. "He didn't deserve you 'Mione…" he leaned in and kissed her sweetly and softly. "You are so beautiful."

Hermione looked at him and smiled. She went on her tip toes and kissed his nose again. He grinned largely. Hermione had come to notice that Draco really liked it when she did that. "You're like a bunny!"

Draco pouted and lifted his hands to his ears. "Are you saying I have big ears Granger?"

Hermione laughed. "No silly, I'm saying you have a cute nose" she said as she tapped his nose lightly with her index finger.

"Oh…in that case…" he bent down and nibbled on her long and slender neck, satisfied with the giggle he got out of Hermione. "Come on, let's go back to the common room."

"Draco wait! We can't go back together until tomorrow remember?" Hermione said.

"Oh yeah… ok. You go ahead and I'll meet you there." Draco said

Hermione started to take off the coat when Draco stopped her and told her to keep it on. She smiled and gave him one last kiss before leaving. When she left, Draco looked out into the lake.

_If only Lucius could see me now. He'd be on his knees for the first time in his life begging the Dementors to let him out to kill me…So be it. I don't need him, and I would gladly kill him if he got anywhere near Hermione…Damn I love her so much. Why the hell does Blaise have to be right all the time?_

Draco looked down at the ground at a small rock. He smiled and started to kick the rock back to the castle while whistling to himself. He tuned out everyone around him and walked through four people, not looking at who they were.

Harry, Ron, and Blaise looked at him with smirks on their faces and crossed their arms. Harry and Ron looked at Blaise and Blaise looked back. They were still for a while but then Harry held his hand out to Blaise. Blaise looked at it for a moment and looked back at Harry. He smiled and shook his hand followed by Ron. The three boys walked back to the castle and whistled as well.

The last person looked at all four of the boys: Draco, Harry, Ron, and Blaise with a confused expression on her face. Slowly Pansy turned and went back into the castle as well.

* * *

**(A/N) What a fluffy chapter! Hehe**

**REVIEWS!**


	11. An Interesting Game

**(A/N) Thank you to all who reviewed! There was quite a lot within the first day of me posting the chapter! The flashback in this chapter is dedicated to my good friend SAMOORA aka r0manticr0se who is from Egypt:D Also, I'm sorry for not posting for a long time. My birthday came up and I was caught in some things. I was way too lazy to fix all the misspelled words so...just deal with it. Well, here we go!**

**Chapter 11: An Interesting Game**

Draco woke up in front of the fireplace with a sleeping Hermione in his arms. Not wanting to wake her up, he laid there longer, holding her close and thinking back to the night before.

_**Flashback**_

_Draco entered the common room. Hermione was in front of the burning fireplace with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and a cup of hot chocolate in her hands. She had a small grin on her face and looked deep in thought. Draco sat behind her much like how he did when they were at the lake and hugged her. He knew all too well that he did this often. He looked over her head and saw the hot chocolate with the white swirls of melted marshmallows. Draco quickly stole the cup and had a taste of it._

"_Hey!" cried Hermione_

"_Mmm…good. You should make this for me more often" Draco said handing back the cup. _

"_It wasn't FOR you jerk" said Hermione and she crossed her arms in front of her chest and pouted. _

"_Don't worry love, there's still plenty left here for you. I'll make you more if you want" Draco said, trying to make her fake anger go away._

"_No, it's fine" Hermione replied taking back the half empty cup of hot chocolate. "Wasn't it good though? It's special hot chocolate that my mom sent me. They don't make it here in England. She said she got it when she was in EGYPT with my dad. I would love to go there someday. It's so exotic and different. What about you?_

"_Egypt sounds good to visit. Didn't Weasley go there once too? I saw him and his family in the paper back in third year. I wouldn't mind going there again" said Draco casually._

_Hermione looked up at him. "Again? You mean you've been there before?"_

"_Oh yeah, I've been to many places. Father would bring me on his trips sometimes whenever he had 'business' to take care of. I've even learned to pick up some languages" Draco said._

"_Wow you can speak different languages? Like what?" Hermione asked amazed and quite frankly, jealous._

"_Let's see…I can speak fluent French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, German, and Russian. Just the European languages. When it comes to Asian tongues, I have absolutely no idea what they're saying" Draco finished laughing._

"_You can speak all those languages __**fluently!**__ I'm very jealous of you right now…" Hermione said not necessarily joking._

_Draco ran his hands through her soft brown curls. "My love, you can you learn anything if you put your mind to it. You're brilliantly smart, and when you do learn the languages you want, you can travel and communicate with whomever you desire" Hermione looked up at him and smiled. "As long as they aren't men" Draco added at the last minute._

_Hermione chuckled and hit him lightly on the arm. "I've always wanted to learn how to speak French. Would you say something to me?" Hermione pleaded._

_Draco lowered his head to her ear and said in his softest, most sexiest voice: "__Mon amour, rien en ce monde me gardera jamais à partir de toi. Je ferai n'importe quoi pour toi, et vous aime pour toujours. J'espère un jour vous voir à côté de moi chaque matin quand je me réveille, et chaque nuit avant que je rêve de toi. Un jour, je te ferai mon épouse. Je t'aime"_ **(A/N: I won't tell you just yet what it means, it'll ruin the story. Just trust me. And please try not to go ahead and look it up yourself, it'll spoil everything!)**

_Hermione had no idea what the hell he said, but she liked it. "What does that mean…" she said as her heart pounded, sounding practically out of breath._

"_In short…I love you Hermione Granger" Draco said softly and slowly. _

_He leaned in and kissed her passionately. Hermione turned around to face Draco completely and ran her fingers through his hair. She had never felt this way when she was with Skyler. His kisses were never able to send chills up and down her spine. He was never able to make her feel weak in the knees. Hermione fell for Draco Malfoy…and she fell hard. _

_**End Flashback**_

Hermione shifted in her sleep and Draco took this opportunity to get up and take a shower. Today was the day Draco and Hermione would let all of Hogwarts know that the Slytherin Prince and the Gryffindor Princess are an item. Fortunately, there were some good things that would make this task easier. According to Hermione, Harry and Ron have already approved, which automatically covers all of Gryffindor House fore no one would dare argue with the Trio, especially the hot tempered Ron. Ravenclaw House would be the house most likely not to care since they were so engrossed with their studies, and the Hufflepuff House has so much loyalty for the Gryffindor House that they would agree to anything in favor of the mighty lions. The only house that truly needed convincing was the ever cunning Slytherin House. Granted, it should be less hard for them to approve since all the Slytherins were witness to the devastating incident the night of the Winter Ball, but the one great advantage Draco had was quite simple and obvious: he is in fact the Slytherin Prince after all right? With this in mind, putting the Slytherins in line should be a piece of cake.

Sooner than they would have liked, Draco and Hermione were already on their way to the Great Hall holding hands. Right from when they exited their tower, they were getting looks from wherever they were. The two even managed to get a shocked look or two out of the professors. Whispers of quiet conversations can be heard from all around.

"Wow who would have thought?" a Hufflepuff said

"I knew this was bound to happen" said a typical all knowing Ravenclaw

"You go girl!" said Parvarti and Lavender, the gossiping Gryffindors

"Everyone shut up or I'll hex you!" hissed a Slytherin.

Hermione chuckled and Draco squeezed her hand. Draco smiled and looked up at his fellow Slytherin and nodded, symbolizing a silent "thank you." Marissa Steel nodded back at him as to say "your welcome." The couple finally reached the Great Hall and was greeted by complete silence. All eyes were on Draco and Hermione. Draco's chest stuck out proudly knowing all eyes were on him and Hermione slightly fidgeted at so much attention. Finally, Draco tugged at Hermione's hand and led her to the Gryffindor table. Once they reached Harry and Ron, they made a space in between them for Hermione. Draco kissed Hermione on the cheek and went to the Slytherin table and sat down next to Blaise who acted like nothing happened. For this, Draco was truly grateful because at that moment, the Great Hall erupted in talk. Once could see that even the professors were conversing in the matter.

Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall were staring at their individual star pupils in shock and amazement. Both had their mouths slightly open and were completely still as if waiting for flies. The two then looked at each other questionably as to ask if they had any idea. McGonagall finally turned to her left to Dumbledore.

"Albus, you didn't perhaps _expect_ for this to happen, did you?" McGonagall asked the Headmaster.

"Oh Minerva, how ever would I have expected that?" replied Dumbledore in a slightly sarcastic tone.

"Albus, I don't know what you're up to or what you have planned, but I hope it works out, whatever it is," McGonagall said finally and turned to continue eating her breakfast.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were outside admiring the view of the Black Lake. Some parts were slightly frozen, but beautiful nonetheless. Neither of them was saying anything when they heard a cough behind them trying to get their attention. When they turned, they saw a tall strongly built guy with blond hair and silvery gray eyes as well as another boy with black hair who was also strongly built. Hermione got up and gave Draco a big hug and then turned to Blaise. She hesitated as to what to do and Blaise snickered slightly. He opened his arms wide and Hermione smiled and hugged him as well. Harry and Ron too stood up and the four boys looked at each other with no anger or disgust in their features. None could see, but Hermione was trying to hide the smile of happiness she had on her face. The sight and action was very similar to that of the day before with Blaise and the Gryffindor boys, only this time, Blaise stood at the side next to Hermione as Harry, Ron, and Draco shook hands calling it a truce.

"Why is it boys never say anything when they're resolving a feud?" Hermione whispered to Blaise.

"Because we're women, we don't like to talk as much as you girls do" replied Blaise and Hermione slapped his arm.

The silence was finally broken by the laughter of Blaise and Hermione. Harry and Ron looked questionably at Hermione and Draco did the same towards Blaise. Blaise and Hermione looked at each other and shrugged.

"So, who's a fan of the Chudley Canons?!" Blaise asked

Ron looked at him bewildered. "Me!"

"Mate, you're gonna be my new best friend" Blaise said as he put an arm around Ron's shoulders.

"Fine by me" Ron replied

"HEY!" Draco and Harry yelled slightly offended.

Hermione, Blaise, and Ron just laughed at them. Suddenly, a sixth voice was heard. They all turned around and followed where the voice had come from.

"Um…may I join you?" Pansy asked with her hands behind her back looking at the ground gently kicking the snow.

Hermione felt a strange feeling at the pit of her stomach. A part of her didn't want to invite Pansy into their conversation because of her feelings for Draco. Luckily, Blaise was the one who spoke. Hermione silently thanked Blaise and now knew why so many people liked him. Blaise was one of the few Slytherins everyone enjoyed talking to. Even the Ravenclaws took time away from their studies to listen to him.

"Pansy, we don't mean to be rude but…I don't think that would be such a good idea" Blaise said

"Oh…why not?" Pansy asked. Hermione now felt really bad, Pansy sounded like she was going to cry

"Well because, as you already know Draco has a girlfriend now and we all know how crazy you are about him" Blaise replied, not ashamed to be brutally honest.

Draco then nudged him hard in the ribs. "NOT helping!" Draco whispered.

"I'm not crazy over him…I never was" said Pansy

The five raised their eye brows at her.

"I find that hard to believe" said Ron.

"Well it's true!" Pansy hissed.

"Then why is it that whenever we see you, you're trying to sit on Malfoy's lap or get his attention?" Harry asked as politely as he could.

Pansy looked down at the snow again and waited before she said anything. "Because my father ordered me to…"

"What?" they all said as a union. This startled Pansy a little, but then she tried to explain.

"As you may or may not know, the Malfoy's and the Parkinson's are two of the oldest and purest wizarding families of all time. You should also know that our parents, being as strict as they are, would only want us to marry other purebloods. This leads me to say, my father and Draco's father had an agreement for an arranged marriage between Draco and me after fourth year. I was ordered to do everything in my power to try to get Draco to fall in love with me so that it wouldn't get out to the Daily Prophet that we were being forced out of-"

"-out of prejudices." Draco finished Pansy's sentence and she nodded. "Why wasn't I informed of this?!" Draco asked Pansy, angry at his father once again.

"Your father said you wouldn't stand for it and you for sure would have went straight to the Daily Prophet" answered Pansy

"He was right" Blaise added matter-of-factly.

Draco nudged Blaise again in the ribs. "Again, NOT helping!"

"Anyway," Pansy continued, "the point is, I don't like Draco like that and I never did. I mean, we grew up together for crying out loud! It would be too weird to get together"

"I agree" Draco said softly squeezing Hermione's hand.

Hermione's throat relaxed. It was tired even though she didn't say anything. There was silence once again. Suddenly, Hermione let go of Draco's hand and walked up to Pansy. Pansy looked at her questionably, and then Hermione gave her a hug. Pansy was shocked at first; fore she's never hugged a girl before. Most Slytherins weren't use to friendly gestures like that. She finally returned the hug and Hermione smiled at her.

"That's enough of all this drama. Who wants hot chocolate?" Hermione said as she smiled to the other people. All the faces lit up and were all too eager to get some of Hermione's famous Egyptian hot chocolate.

The group of six laughed and so began a new friendship between the Slytherins and Gryffindors. Their conversation eventually made its way up to the Head's common room and Hermione made hot chocolate for everyone.

"Hey, I have an idea" Blaise said.

"Wow that's a first" Draco said sipping his hot chocolate

"Can it you git!" Blaise shot back.

"Don't call my brother a git!" Pansy hissed.

Blaise whipped out his wand and Pansy whipped out hers. Draco whipped out his as well but only to try to stop the two of them from doing anything stupid. Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at them in amazement.

"Damn are you guys serious?" Ron said amazed.

"Do all Slytherins play like this?" Hermione asked.

"Just tell us your idea Zabini" Harry said trying to settle the argument.

Blaise finally put away his wand. "Let's play a game"

"What game?" Pansy asked curiously, putting away her wand as well.

"Basically, it's a game of 'I bet you've Never'. It's kinda revised from the game 'I Never.' We'll sit in a circle and one person says 'I bet you've never blank' and everyone who did do it has to take a sip of their cocoa and tell us about it. When everyone answers, the next person in the line goes. If you don't tell us of the experience then you'll have to do a dare. This version of the game won't be as intense as the last time I played it because we'll only be drinking hot chocolate" Blaise explained.

"Wow I can't believe Blaise Zabini, a pureblood Slytherin, knows a muggle game" Hermione giggled.

"Well you learn things when you get drunk at a muggle party," Blaise winked.

"When the hell were you drunk at a muggle party?!" Draco asked surprised.

"Sorry mate, but the game hasn't started" Blaise said laughing and leaving a fuming Draco.

The six got in position. The three Slytherins were on one side of the coffee table and the Gryffindors were at the other side. They didn't do this on purpose, it was habit. The Gryffindor Trio and the Slytherin Trio were separated and face to face. Harry and Draco were facing each other followed by Hermione and Pansy facing each other in the middle and Blaise and Ron at the other end.

"I wonder how interesting this game will get," Pansy asked Blaise and Draco out loud, "we're playing with the goody two shoes Gryffindors after all" The three Slytherins laughed. Hermione glared at Draco for laughing and he immediately fell silent.

Ron gave a knowing smirk to Harry and Hermione and they smirked back. "Let the game begin then" Harry said.

"I'll start, and we won't go easy on you. Hmm…I bet you've never gotten a tattoo" Blaise said

Every single person drank.

"What the hell?! YOU GUYS have tattoos?!" Pansy said shocked.

"I don't believe that, show us" Draco said looking particularly at Hermione.

"Let's go Harry" Ron said. The two lifted up the sleeves of their shirts and sure enough, there were tattoos. Like all tattoos in the wizarding world, theirs moved.

The tattoo was fire that took shape of a phoenix in great detail. Towards the talons of the phoenix were the letters "OP" in gold.

"OP? What does that stand for?" Blaise asked

"Order of the Phoenix" Hermione answered before Harry and Ron could.

"What's that?" asked Draco.

"It's a secret society dedicated to fighting Voldemort." Hermione answered.

The three Slytherins suddenly lost color in their faces, but didn't push the matter any further.

Blaise then looked at Hermione. "Didn't you drink? Where's your tattoo Granger?"

Hermione sighed and stood up.

"Now wait just a damn minute! You have to stand up to show us your tattoo?! I'm not sure if I approve of this question now" Draco said protectively.

"Calm your arse Malfoy" Harry said "Go on 'Mione, show 'em."

Hermione pulled down the right side of her skirt and there was the same tattoo as Harry and Ron.

"Oh wow that's kinda hott" Pansy said in awe.

"Hell yeah it is!" Blaise said.

Hermione then turned around and lifted the back side of her shirt to reveal her lower back. She had a muggle tattoo that was of flowers and some fancy swirly designs that the Slytherins have never seen before.

"Good Merlin thank you so much…" Blaise said hypnotized.

Harry, Ron, and Draco all got slightly red and angered. "Ok, ok! That's enough!" Draco yelled.

Hermione chuckled and pulled her shirt back down. "So let's see your tattoo's then."

The Slytherins looked at each other and Pansy sighed. All three of them stood up. Draco and Blaise took off their shirts while Pansy pulled down the shoulder part of her more stretchable shirt and they turned around. All three of their tattoos were different but at the exact same place: their right shoulder blade. It didn't take long for Harry, Ron, and Hermione to realize that the tattoos were their family crests.

Draco's crest was of a green serpent's head with a fancy silver M in its mouth. Blaise's crest was of a griffin with outstretched wings with a gold Z on each wing. Pansy's crest was of a snow white wolf with a black P on its forehead.

"Wow, no offense, but I thought for sure that at least one of you would have the Dark Mark" Ron said.

"Well I guess we're not as transparent as you think, huh Weasley?" Blaise said back.

"I can't believe you all wanted to get your family crests tattooed. Isn't that a bit too proud?" Harry asked.

Before any of the Slytherins could say anything, Ron answered. "They had to get it whether they wanted to or not."

Harry and Hermione looked at him, surprised that he new the answer to something. "How would you know that Ronald?" asked Hermione.

"Blimey guys, I think sometimes you two forget that I'm a pureblood too, even if my family is banished from the pureblood society" Ron stated a little irritably.

Harry and Hermione's faces turned a little red.

"Well what do you know, the Weasel's got something right" Draco said.

"All purebloods have a family crest, even Weasley here, but families that are banished from the pureblood society have their crests marked and categorized. In order to get into all pureblood society events you must show your crest. You can't get in if you don't have one or if yours is banished, and once your crest is banished, no one in that family is able to be branded with it unless you're re-instated into the society. It's a bunch or rubbish, really, but girls get branded right before their coming out party and boys get branded before their first real social event" Pansy said. Everyone was a little shocked at how she sounded like a complex textbook.

"Yep, that's right. There's even a book in the library of all the family crests ever recorded in history. It gives you a list of those who are in the pureblood society, those who are no longer existent due to no descendents, those who are banished, and those who have been banished and re-instated. You should check it out Granger" Blaise suggested.

"Uh, thanks Blaise, I think I will" Hermione said. Blaise smiled at his first name being said.

"Grrrr, I don't like this conversation anymore! I'm next" Pansy said.

"Please, go" said Draco who was also annoyed with all the pureblood talk.

"I bet you've never had a piercing, and ears don't count" Pansy said.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione drank.

"WHAT?! 'Mione you have a piercing! Oh dear Merlin…" Draco said getting a headache.

Hermione stood up and lifted her shirt to show her navel. There stood a gold stud with a dangling red charm.

"I don't know why, but seeing that is a real turn on" Draco said, not taking his eyes off of the belly button ring.

"Quite the Gryffindor spirit, huh Granger?" Blaise said smiling.

"That's really cute! I didn't know you could get a piercing there! Is it a muggle thing?" Pansy asked politely as if talking to an old friend.

"I guess it is if you've never seen one before. You should get one! It doesn't hurt all that much" Hermione said smiling

"Yeah thanks! I think I will. Will you come with me?" Pansy said turning red.

"Sure! We can go to-"

"'Mione, put your shirt down" said both Harry and Ron.

Hermione didn't realize that she was still standing and holding her shirt up. "Oops, sorry" she said and she sat back down.

"That's two for two Granger. Who would have thought you were such a wild child" Blaise said.

"Well I guess we're not as transparent as you think, huh Zabini?" Hermione said as payback for what he said earlier to Ron.

"Where are your piercing?" Pansy asked Harry and Ron.

Harry and Ron stuck out their tongues to show their tongue rings.

"Whoa…" said Pansy wide eyed.

"I bet you can do wonders with that thing huh Potter?" Draco said crossing his arms.

"Oh Malfoy, you don't even know" Harry said laughing.

"Your turn Malfoy" said Ron.

"I bet you've never gotten physically hurt by the Dark Lord" Draco said.

Everyone drank. They all knew that Harry got hurt from the Dark Lord obviously, but the rest were surprised that the others drank.

"Y-you guys were hurt by the Dark Lord?" Hermione stuttered.

By the looks on their faces, they knew that it was something that happened regularly for them.

"I got mine during the summer every Tuesday" Draco said with no emotion.

"I got mine during the summer every Friday" Blaise said also with no emotion.

"I got mine during the summer every Sunday" Pansy said choked up.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at the other three with the most sympathy they've ever had for them in their lives.

"I can't believe he'd do that regularly, what the hell for?" Ron asked.

"Discipline" the three replied.

"Why did you two get hurt by the Dark Lord?" asked Pansy

"We're the best friends of Harry Bloody Potter, need we say more?" Ron replied.

"Oh yeah, that's right…" Pansy said to herself.

"Umm…I think I'll go next" said Harry, not wanting to push the matter further. "I bet you've never gone skinny dipping"

To everyone's surprised, Hermione was the only one who drank again. "Granger, what the hell!" Pansy screeched. "If you're not such a goody good then you should try not to make it seems like you are all the time."

"Can it Pansy" ordered Draco.

"'Mione, I'm slowly beginning to wonder about you" Harry said.

"When did you go skinny dipping?" Ron asked, not really wanting an answer.

"I went last summer with my cousin and some other guys" Hermione said as if it wasn't anything big. Before Ron, Harry, or Draco could say anything else, she went on to take her turn. "Anyway, I bet you've never lost your virginity"

Everyone, including Hermione, drank.

"Granger, even I have to say that was a lame question. You should have known the answer to that. Though, I'm a little surprised you three drank" Blaise said looking at the Golden Trio.

"Oh my dear Blaise, this question wasn't for your benefit, it was for ours" Hermione said sneakily.

"What…do you…mean?" Blaise wondered looking at the other two Slytherins. They just shrugged.

Harry and Ron began to laugh. "Here, let me just start you guys off into realization. Malfoy, who did you lose your virginity to?" Harry asked.

"Ooooh I get it. We get to find out who you guys lost your virginity to. I see, ok I lost mine to Ebony Shaw." Draco said.

"I lost mine to Jake Sky" Pansy said next.

"And I lost mine to Clarissa Steel, Marissa Steel's sister." Blaise said. "Potter, Weasley, who did you two lose it to?"

At the same time, both of them answered. "Hermione"

Draco choked on his hot chocolate, Pansy covered her mouth, and Blaise nearly fell side wards.

"BOTH of you did Hermione!" Draco yelled outraged.

Hermione couldn't help but laugh at the jealousy. "Hermione, who did you lose your virginity to?" Draco asked.

"Harry and Ron" she replied.

By this time, Draco was about to faint and Blaise looked at Hermione with a smirk. Pansy still had her hands over her mouth.

"Are you telling me, that the first time all three of you had sex was with **each other!** And in a **threesome!**" Draco yelled trying to confirm.

"Umm…yeah I guess that's what we're trying to say" Ron said trying to refrain from laughing himself to death.

"I **definitely** don't like this game anymore…" Draco said, about to be sick.

"Well, who better to lose your virginity to then your best friends?" Hermione said chuckling.

"Granger, you're my idol" Pansy said

"And you're my hero" said Blaise

"I don't want to hear anymore about this" Draco said.

"Fine, since Malfoy's being such a puss, I'll finish the game. I bet you've never hit a parent" Ron said.

For the first time the whole night, it was only the three Slytherins that drank.

"I punched my father in the face the first time he crucioed me" Draco said.

"I slapped my dad when he was trying to drag me into the cellar. I was raped by a complete stranger because this stranger paid my dad galleons" Pansy said

"I punched my dad in the gut when I found him torturing my mum one night." Blaise said.

"Wow…I'm really sorry you guys…" Hermione said, wanting to hug Pansy for being raped.

"It's alright, it's in the past…" Draco said.

The game was finished and it was already getting dark. Everyone but the Head boy and Head Girl left the tower to get ready for dinner. Hermione watched as Harry and Ron left the portrait hole. Hermione saw Blaise and Pansy whispering something to Harry and Ron. Right before the portrait closed, she heard the word "Deal" come out of Harry's mouth as he shook hands with Blaise. Draco wrapped his arms around her and kissed her cheek. They swayed from left to right for a few moments in silence. Finally, Draco spoke.

"So, a threesome eh?"

Hermione hit him in the arm. "Git" she said laughing.

She turned around and walked up her stair case and into her room. Much to her surprised, Draco followed her.

Harry, Ron, Blaise and Pansy noticed that the couple didn't show up for dinner. From across the Great Hall, the two Gryffindors looked at the two smirking Slytherins. When dinner was over, Blaise and Pansy were waiting outside the Great Hall for Harry and Ron.

"Five galleons each, pay up" Blaise said holding out his hand.

"Aw this sucks! We should have known they'd get it on tonight" Ron said digging through his pockets.

"What dumb luck" Harry said handing his galleons to Blaise.

Blaise took five galleons and gave it to Pansy.

"That goes to show that for future reference, never make a bet with a Slytherin" Pansy said giggling and winking at Ron. She and Blaise turned around whistling happily and headed back to the Slytherin dungeons.

"I wish Malfoy kept his pants on. At least until tomorrow when we won the bet" Harry said.

"Let's just bug 'Mione into giving us ten galleons tomorrow. It's her fault anyway." Ron said

The two laughed as they whistled and walked back up to Gryffindor Tower.

**(A/N) lol interesting ending wasn't it? Review!**


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